Many believed the Boston Celtics' best course of action was to tank the 2025-26 season. Their surprising success made those cries die down, but the Philadelphia 76ers' first-round elimination of them resurrected that narrative. The Indiana Pacers getting the worst-case scenario from the NBA Draft Lottery today served as a good reminder that tanking is not always a foolproof option.
For context, the Pacers tanked their way into the second-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, but by trading a top-four-protected pick for Ivica Zubac, they risked losing it at No. 5 or lower. Well, that's exactly what happened.
Now, if the Celtics had tanked, and as long as they didn't make any deal like the Pacers did for Zubac, they wouldn't have suffered the same fate. However, this is the problem with tanking. Boston could have done everything riight and it may not have mattered in the end because the lottery results can be especially cruel.
The Celtics know this themselves, as they did everything in their power to get their hands on a game-changer in 1997, 2007, and 2014, and every attempt came up short despite their best efforts.
Plus, a lot of teams were tanking this season
Boston could have thrown their hat in the ring, and it may not have mattered because it felt as though a third of the league was tanking. There's no guarantee that the Celtics would have gotten a top-10 pick, let alone top-five.
Not to mention committing to the tank would have meant benching Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard, among others. Those three guys want to win now, not wait until after Jayson Tatum's return to start committing to winning again, especially if it didn't amount to much in the end.
In the Pacers' case, it didn't amount to anything at all. They are still in great shape regardless, but the blow they were just dealt would be a tough pill for any team to swallow. That's what happens when teams are also in the same boat as you.
It it a sad fact that the Celtics just got humiliated when they could have had the chance at getting a high lottery pick, but even if they played that game, there was no guarantee that it would have worked out for them and may have caused strain in that locker room.
That's not to say tanking isn't a smart strategy, but it's still very much a risky one. Boston's season ended in pretty cataclysmic fashion, but days like today should remind them and their fanbase that it could somehow be much worse.
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