Tanking is a hot subject, especially surrounding the National Basketball Association(NBA). The definition of tanking according to Forbes.com is “losing games on purpose to get a better draft choice. Teams that have been discovered to tank this season are the Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Some key notes about these teams: Mark Cuban, the current owner of the Mavericks, was quoted in a story published by CBS Sports as saying, “Losing is our best option.” back in February; the Bulls attempted to bench starters Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday back in March, but were warned by the NBA about “resting healthy players”; The Hawks made no noticeable moves to improve at all around or at the trade deadline; and the Grizzlies had lost 19 consecutive games from Jan. 31 to Mar. 15 and had the largest loss of the NBA season this year(61 points), losing to the the Charlotte Hornets on Mar. 22, 140-79.

Tanking is bad for the NBA because the fans hate it, veterans don’t get the playing time they deserve down the stretch, regardless of record, and the teams that have games on national TV that decide to tank also tank ratings for those games and ticket sales plummet for any team that does it.