Last night, in Phoenix, Commissioner Adam Silver effectively had to bend the knee to about the entire remaining staff of the Phoenix Suns, admitting the league fell far short of it's responsibilities of dealing with it's now-outgoing owner.
Also in the meeting, however -- which took over an hour -- Adam Silver basically made reference to the elephant in the room, 7' 4" French player Victor Wembanyama, who will (barring injury or the like) be the #1 player in the next NBA Draft and will probably transform his franchise not unlike Patrick Ewing in 1985.
In short, Silver was forced, again, to confront the NBA's tanking problem. The real news here is the word he used as one (probably inconceivable and unworkable) option -- but that he used it at all is a function of just how bad the tanking problem is.
He actually used the word RELEGATION as a real discussion (even after dismissing it completely as something which literally destabilize the league to the point of probably blowing it up) as an ultimate solution to deal with tanking issues.
I think part of the present problem is the concept that relegation would also come with promotion from the G-League -- as he discussed in Phoenix. That IS a rather ridiculous concept (and the for the reasons, on both ends, Silver talked about -- financial situation on the relegated team, talent level and ability on the promoted team), but the fact of the matter is some form of a relegation concept IS the only way to deal with tanking, or you have no incentive (as Mark Cuban has even, in the past, conceived that even a number of the playoff teams do not...) not to tank your season, especially if someone who might well blow up in the NBA, like Wembanyama, is available in the next Draft.
I think relegation without promotion would work. At this point, I think the seasons are too long in all of the major sports, and there are too many teams literally stealing money by calling themselves "professional" outfits, when, in many cases, they are (and that's if they are!) little better than the top college squads. And many have been this for year after year after year...
Would this probably mean the relegating franchises die? Yes, AND THEY DAMN WELL SHOULD! I will have no dispute with anyone who is saying that professional sports are a literal mint to print money, especially in the NFL (and what lesser extent exists in the other three can easily vary). But it is still bad business to lose year after year after year, just like it is not educational to simply field a team just to satisfy the law and watch your student-athletes get decimated by unsportsmanlike scores.
Franchises unfit to compete on the top professional level should not be there. The problem is implementing this in a situation where it is clear that the secondary leagues are either a full level below (college football) or affiliated with the top-level teams (the other three major sports).
Don't fool yourself: Relegation is not coming. The Players Associations would never permit a relegation scenario, as such that it would be a contraction scenario rather than a promotion one.
That said, that Adam Silver is now actually at least putting the word into play indicates he's out of ammunition to deal with the tanking problem.
Except for one other possibility which was partially raised in the Phoenix meeting: What was discussed in Phoenix was the situation regarding expansion. Silver admits that, though there are cities who would line up for a new NBA team, dilution of talent becomes a real issue.
How about this, Commissioner Silver? You relegate and contract unfit franchises, and you immediately (the same off-season) bring expansion cities into the league. The PA loses no jobs (and any players who would be out would probably be considered not worthy of the NBA in the first place!), and you might get rid of some of these front-offices who've been skating for far too long.
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