Draft Lotteries Suck for Die-Hard Fans
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Be sure to help somebody with their bag today, and you too might get drafted second overall.
But you wouldn’t be drafted first overall by the Dallas Mavericks or the New York Islanders, the biggest winners of this season’s losers. (I cannot believe the NBA includes the losers of the Play-In Tournament in the lottery). Today we’ll talk about why fans should hate draft lotteries, an angry letter about the NHL All-Star Game, team names and trademarks, and a lackluster sports “documentary.”
Locker Room Links
- Would you stay at a playoff hockey game that went into quadruple overtime? The Ottawa Charge and Montréal Victoire were more than 15 minutes through the fourth OT before Montréal’s Catherine Dubois scored a winner, to the delight of a still-packed arena. That’s 2 hours and 15 minutes of gametime, spread over 5.5 hours.
- “Nike is Still Ignoring Caitlin Clark and Destroying Shareholder Value”
- The feds take on sports: President Donald Trump is reportedly creating a commission that seems like it would suggest legislation or regulation on college sports. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, senators complained about sports streaming packages in what Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas), called an “informational…fact-finding exercise.”
- My friend Tim Carney wrote a great column on Ohio Republicans and their silly plan to subsidize a new stadium for the hapless Cleveland Browns.
- In case you missed it, the new pope is a huge sports fan, and was even briefly seen on the World Series broadcast in 2005. (The Athletic has more on the pope’s sports fan bona fides.)
- Elsewhere in Reason: “Republicans Want To Redefine Obscenity“
- I’m reliably informed this person is not, in fact, my Reason colleague Fiona Harrigan despite all evidence to the contrary.
Meet Anna, the fan who has been crocheting a sweater during all of Garrett Crochet’s starts this season! #CrochetingWithCrochet ???? pic.twitter.com/g9DMnl67tl
— MLB (@MLB) May 10, 2025
Tank This
It’s draft season, which also means it’s draft lottery season, where so much of your favorite team’s history and success may rest in the hands of a pingpong ball—and I hate that. (Maybe I’m just grumpy because my Detroit Red Wings have never moved up under the NHL Draft Lottery and the Detroit Pistons got screwed out of drafting Victor Wembanyama.)
The point of the lotteries is to reduce tanking so that every team is trying hard to make the playoffs every year. But if the worst teams don’t get a high draft pick, it just prolongs their suffering in the league basement. I’m not the only one noticing this tension:
3 straight years the team with the worst record in the NBA has slid to 5th in the draft. Just seems improperly weighted. Fans of those teams deserve better. The NFL draft is one of the biggest events in all of sports and they don’t have a circus like this.
— Dan Miller (@DanMillerFox2) May 12, 2025
Fans obviously don’t tank, even if some (not me!) are capable of rooting for it. If the die-hard fans who stick with their team through their worst times have to suffer through the team being worst in the league, they should at least get some optimism from a first overall pick. Players also don’t tank, at least not for draft purposes: They have their next contract in mind, plus any performance bonuses in their current contracts, and can hold out hope a good team will want to pick them up in a trade—just look at all the examples of teams that won late in the NFL season and blew their chance at the No. 1 pick. Lastly, coaches don’t tank: If they lose a lot, they get fired. Management doesn’t praise a coach for leading the team to a high draft pick.
Management sometimes tanks, yes, by trading today’s talent away for tomorrow’s draft picks (“Trust the process!”). But basing a system on the
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
