That would make it infinitely worse. Why would a team want to be the 8 seed in the playoffs when losing a few games might get them #9 or worse and give them Cooper Flagg? The mid-level team tanking sucks because it waters down the remainder of the season for everyone. The top 8-10 teams in the league are the only ones with any real reason to fight for wins. The issue is the lottery incentivises losing and missing the playoffs. Expanding the lottery and lowering the worst odds has accentuated the problem by incetivisizing avoiding the playoffs for any team on the fringe. If only the worst 5 teams had an real shot at a top pick, you wouldn't be seeing all this bullshit injury stuff to tank late in the season. You wouldn't see Luka shut down in March so the Mavs can get that 10th worst record to avoid sending out the pick and hoping for some lottery luck. The NBA Draft lottery is the primary driving force behind NBA tanking and nobody wants to admit it, because the owners secretly love it. Our entire national culture is being overtaken in every facet by gambling, loot boxes and prediction markets that are enshittifying every aspect of life as we know it. Now even our most competitive sports leagues are becoming inextricably entwined in this gambling mess, and it just creates a min/max dynamic that makes everything shitty. Get off my lawn /rant