The Washington Wizards are on the rise, but they haven't managed to climb out of the bottom of the NBA standings yet.
Over the last few years, the Wizards have constantly been stuck in the exahausting cycle of mediocrity and that exhaustion stems from both ownershup that wants to win, and a fanbase that desperately wants something to cheer for.
Between the exciting young core that general manager Will Dawkins and President of Basketball Michael Winger have built and the bold moves to form a superstar duo of Trae Young and Anthony Davis, it's clear that the Wizards hope to exit the cycle of mediocrity sooner rather than later.
However, until the team is able to remove themselves from the conversations in regards to the NBA Draft Lottery,, Washington will continue to be linked to the ongoing tanking issue around the league.
All that to say, with this new proposed NBA rule on the horizon, the Wizards may want to exit the rebuilding stage in the near future.
New proposed rule could destroy tanking efforts
According to NBA insider Kevin O'Connell of Yahoo Sports, a proposed rule could be gaining traction that would not only freeze NBA draft lottery odds at a certain date, but could also remove protections from future picks outside of the top four.
There’s growing support for a potential rule that would freeze NBA draft lottery odds at a certain point in the season, meaning losses after that date wouldn’t affect lottery positioning, per @KevinOConnor
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 12, 2026
The date could change each year and might not be revealed until after… pic.twitter.com/MiUKoNNn4P
The idea of this rule and the concept of electing to have a date in place that teams don't know about would be in hopes of eliminating losing efforts as teams don't know exactly what kind of record will be needed in order to secure a top pick.
Despite that, those efforts could trigger the exact opposite as O'Connell mentioned in the video above.
If teams aren't cognitive of the date in which losses are stopped being counted, it could entice teams to start their tanking efforts earlier in the season than they would originally.
From a fans perspective, that would be extremely frustrating and from a business standpoint, I'm sure NBA commissioner Adam Silver would agree too.
Nonetheless, with tanking becoming such a major problem in the league as of late, especially when looking at the new strategy implemented by the Utah Jazz over the last couple weeks, it's obvious why the league is looking to figure out a way to refrain teams from trying to tank.
All that to say, the Wizards need to do whatever they can to get to the point of their rebuild that tanking is no longer a problem they should be worried about.