“Get rid of the draft”: Stan Van Gundy wants NBA to scrap drafts and hire rookies as FA

In a move to solve the NBA’s persistent tanking problem, veteran coach and analyst Stan Van Gundy proposed a radical overhaul: get rid of the NBA Draft entirely. Speaking on Golic & Golic, Van Gundy argued that making every incoming prospect an unrestricted free agent would instantly remove the incentive for teams to lose games for lottery odds.

Under his proposal, rookie stars like Duke sensation Cooper Flagg would enter the NBA not by being selected, but by negotiating directly with teams within the confines of the existing salary cap.

Van Gundy’s primary target is the lottery system’s incentive, which rewards the worst-performing teams with the highest probability of landing franchise-altering talent. This encourages teams to deliberately bench their healthy and talented players so that they can lose.

From the 2019 NBA draft, the league implemented a rule that gave a 14% chance to the three teams at the bottom to land a top pick and a 52. 1% chance of getting one of the top four. But despite this, this season has seen teams like the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards continue to face scrutiny for prioritizing future draft top picks over current wins. The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 and Indiana Pacers were fined $100,000 for holding out healthy players.

Addressing the tanking issue, Van Gundy on Golic & Golic stated,“What we have to do is remove any incentive to lose. They (teams) see it as through the draft, they want to maximize their opportunities. Even though we don’t like the outcome with the tanking, it’s hard to fault the teams.”

He added, “I’d get rid of the draft. No draft. You still have the salary cap, if you want to go give Cooper Flagg $45 million a year coming out of college, do it, he’s a free agent.

Everybody coming out is a free agent. With no draft, there’s no incentive to lose, there’s none at all. ”

Gundy’s suggestion stems from eliminating the root cause due to which teams are preferring to tank rather than win matches. Without the draft, the rigid Rookie Scale, which currently locks in the first-round picks into fixed four-year contracts for a price that might or might not match their market value, will not be there.

This season’s top pick, Cooper Flagg, is on a $62 million rookie contract and will earn around $13. 8 million. But as a rookie, he is captaining the Mavs’ offense, which could be seen way above his pay grade.

While this would favor big-market destinations like Los Angeles or Miami, Van Gundy contends that the salary cap acts as the ultimate equalizer, giving the small-market teams significant cap to outbid luxury-tax-burdened giants.

This will force the talent to spread across the league.

As the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, addressed the issue and stated, “There is talk about every possible remedy now to stop this behavior,” Van Gundy’s vision could also offer a new perspective, but going draft-free would always be up for debate.