Traffic jam on the basement stairs

We had seven tank teams in 2023-24. Who's on track to do it again? Who's graduating out? Who's joining the cellar party?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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View of Toledo; El Greco; 1596-1600

Seven teams ended up tanking last season, whether by intending to do so or not. Let’s walk through them.

• Detroit Pistons (14-68): The Pistons wanted to be competitive, and were decidedly not.

• Washington Wizards (15-67): It was clear to reasonable people (i.e.: not me) that this team would be hideous, and it was.

• Portland Trail Blazers (21-61): The Blazers never seemed likely to be competitive once they traded Damian Lillard, though there are still a good number of veteran players here.

• Charlotte Hornets (21-61): The Hornets wanted to be competitive, and were decidedly not. The second-half tank was real.

• San Antonio Spurs (22-60): The Spurs did not really try to do much of anything with their roster around Victor Wembanyama, and they still won more games than four other teams.

• Toronto Raptors (25-57): The Raptors saw the writing on the wall after a middling start and cut bait on their two stars approaching free agency. This was a traditional second-half tank.

• Memphis Grizzlies (27-55): The Grizzlies started very slow with Ja Morant’s suspension and some injury problems, showed signs of life when Morant returned and tanked all the way out when Morant was lost for the season.

I didn’t count the Utah Jazz (31-51) or Brooklyn Nets (32-50) here. Utah ran its 2022-23 playbook where it was competitive for half the season before making some trades and sitting some players. But even when they were .500 around midseason, Utah wasn’t in great position to make the playoffs due to the competitive depth of the West. The Nets similarly started off competitive until an internal rift of sorts led to bad results. The Nets not owning the rights to most of their own draft picks makes the position that they tanked out a little fuzzy.

In any case, other than those nine teams, everyone else finished .500 or better or made the postseason. There is a structural limit to how many teams can truly fail in today’s NBA.

My question is: who is plotting to return to the cellar next year, and who is graduating out?