To be a commissioner for a major sports league probably requires spending an inordinate amount of time to stop teams from tanking.
Tanking being that decision to either trade away or not play your best players in order to get a high draft pick after the season. The poster child of tanking were the Philadelphia 76ers about six years ago who re-imagined tanking as “the process”.
My beloved but hard to watch Portland Trailblazers have pressed the tank button the last two years and the Dallas Mavericks head coach came out and said they were not going for a win, were actively trying to avoid the playoffs which they mathematically could have reached.
To properly tank you have to avoid that Mavericks path. You cannot publicly acknowledge the tank. You just silently do it. Otherwise, karma will more than likely come for you. By karma, I mean the league office with fines.
You can debate the morality of tanking but until you have a real negative consequence such as relegation to a lower league, there is no stick nor enough of a carrot in expanded playoffs to not do it.
For beer to pair with this not so savory part of sports, see if you can find one of two beers, both related to consensus NBA pick #1 this year, Victor Wembanyama…
- Something from the R&D brewer from Figueroa Mountain – Victor Novak.
- A French Saison to match Wembanyama’s nationality.