Ewing Points

The Problem

Since the infamous 1985 "Lose for Ewing" tank year, the NBA has struggled with teams intentionally losing to secure better draft picks. The lottery was introduced to combat this, but tanking is worse than ever. Ewing Points flips the incentive entirely.

Today's NBA:

Teams tank on purpose — trading veterans, benching talent, punting entire seasons for a lottery ticket
Fans get screwed — paying to watch their stars ride the bench in favor of G-League lineups
The product suffers — empty arenas, unwatchable games, dropped TV ratings... it's embarrassing

THE FUTURE: Ewing Points

No more lottery randomness — no luck involved, no frozen envelopes, no conspiracy theories
Every game matters — bad teams play for draft position every single night
Win the Draft — can't win the chip? There's a second prize worth fighting for
End-of-season drama — imagine two bad teams battling for that #1 LeBron / Wemby / Cooper Flagg / AD / Kyrie / D-Rose EWING pick on the final night of the season. You're watching that game. You're going to that game
Fans win — every game is competitive, every arena is full, every fanbase has something to cheer for
Players win — young stars land on competitive teams ready to take the next step, not dumpster fires
Owners win — better product means bigger TV deals, more sponsors, more butts in seats
The league wins — no more tanking scandals, no more "Process" jokes, just basketball the way it's supposed to be played

How It Works

Tier 1

Conference Rank 1–8 (Playoff Teams)

Win = 0 Ewing Points

Tier 2

Conference Rank 9–10 (Bubble Teams)

Win = 1 Ewing Point

Tier 3

Conference Rank 11–15 (Lottery-Bound)

Win = 2 Ewing Points

Losses always earn 0 points. Points start after each team's 20th game. Tiers are recalculated daily based on current conference standings. At season's end, non-playoff teams are ranked by Ewing Points — most points picks first. No lottery. No luck involved.

Proof Ewing Points Work

The numbers are clear — but the real stories make the case. Here are three seasons that show exactly why this model fixes the draft.

The New Orleans Tragedy

5 top-two finishes in Ewing Points. 0 top picks to show for it.

From 2015 to 2022, the Pelicans were the definition of competitive losers — bad enough to be in the lottery every year, but winning 30+ games because they had stars out there fighting every night. The current system punished them for it.

Season	Record	Ewing Pick	Would Have Drafted	Actual Pick	Actually Got
2015-16	30-52	#2	Brandon Ingram	#6	Buddy Hield
2016-17	34-48	#2	Lonzo Ball	—	No pick
2019-20	30-42	#1	Anthony Edwards	#13	Kira Lewis Jr.
2020-21	31-41	#1	Cade Cunningham	#10	Ziaire Williams
2021-22	36-46	#1	Paolo Banchero	#8	Dyson Daniels

Under Ewing Points, New Orleans would have drafted three #1 picks and two #2 picks across five lottery seasons. Instead, the lottery gave them Buddy Hield, Kira Lewis Jr., and Dyson Daniels. The current system doesn't just fail to prevent tanking — it punishes the teams that refuse to do it.

OKC 2022-23: The Thunder Win Wembanyama

40-42 record. 61 Ewing Points. #1 overall pick.

The Thunder went .500 in 2022-23 — a young team on the rise, competing hard every night. Under the current system, they picked 12th and got Dereck Lively II. Meanwhile, the Spurs tanked to a league-worst record and were rewarded with Victor Wembanyama.

Under Ewing Points, OKC's 40 competitive wins — mostly earned while ranked 9th-15th in the West — would have given them the #1 pick and Victor Wembanyama. The team that was actually trying to win gets the generational talent. The Spurs, who went 22-60, would have picked 9th.

Imagine the drama: every Thunder win down the stretch is worth 2 Ewing Points, with Wembanyama on the line. That's appointment television.

GSW 2023-24: 46 Wins and the #1 Pick

The winningest lottery team in a decade — rewarded, not punished.

Golden State went 46-36 in 2023-24 and still missed the playoffs. Under the current system, they didn't even have a lottery pick. Under Ewing Points, their 46 wins — many earned while hovering around the play-in cutoff — made them the #1 pick with 52 EP.

Meanwhile, Detroit went 14-68 — the worst record in over a decade. That doesn't happen by accident. You don't win 14 games in an 82-game season unless you are actively trying to lose. Under the current system, tanking that hard is rewarded with the #1 pick. Under Ewing Points, Detroit picks 12th.

That's the point. If every team knows the only way to get a top pick is to win while you're bad, you would never see a 14-win season again. No more sitting your best players. No more trading away every veteran at the deadline. The incentive to tank disappears overnight.

Tank Analysis

How does the Ewing Points model treat tankers vs. competitive losers? Across all 140 team-seasons, the relationship is perfectly monotonic — more wins means a better pick delta.

Tank of Shame

Most punished by Ewing Points — teams that tanked and got a worse pick

Rank	Season	Team	Record	Actual Pick	Record Pick	Ewing Pick	Delta

Big Fella Dunks - Most Rewarded

Most rewarded by Ewing Points — competitive losers who earned a better pick

Rank	Season	Team	Record	Actual Pick	Record Pick	Ewing Pick	Delta