The NBA is one of the most competitive sports leagues across the globe. As of the 2024-25 season, the league had a revenue of $12.75 billion, maintaining its place among the top sports to watch in the world.
While teams chasing championships is typically what makes a league competitive, there has been a new trend in the system. These days, we often see NBA teams tanking rather than working for the gold.
Why NBA Teams Are Tanking
For those unfamiliar, tanking is a method teams typically use to get a better chance to secure a higher pick in the NBA Draft lottery. However, it seems that there’s more to it than just getting a better lottery pick.
Sports journalist Joon Lee recently uploaded a video on YouTube explaining why NBA teams tend to tank these days. Lee revealed that team owners are now more interested in the business aspect of the league rather than the sport itself.
According to Lee, it has plenty to do with private equity. Team owners these days now go to private companies to help them purchase teams.
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However, given that these companies have stake ownership in the teams, they care less about how a team performs on the court than how the balance sheet shakes out.
“Why are sports owners suddenly so comfortable losing?” Lee asked. “Some blame tanking, some blame analytics. But an answer increasingly is private equity.”
Because of the power of private equity, these companies now have the advantage to run sports teams like a stock market. Rather than focusing on building a solid cohesive unit that can win championships, the companies ask their partners to focus first and foremost on making them more money.
Lee then pointed out the Boston Celtics as a primary example of private equity getting in the way. William Chisholm, the majority owner of the Celtics, is apparently nothing but the face of the franchise.
The reality is, the private company Chisholm reached out to has more power because of the money they initially invested to make his purchase of the team possible.
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While the Celtics may be a winning team this season with a chance of going to the 2026 NBA Finals, that’s simply because of the talent they currently have. Otherwise, if you take the team’s most talented players out of the picture, the Celtics haven’t necessarily been aggressively trying to acquire pieces that could help Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown win another title together.
There may be some truth to what Lee is saying, but readers should keep this information in perspective. Ultimately, Lee’s claims are essentially conjecture for the time being, although it’s an interesting angle that’s arguably been underreported until now.
