I was thinking about this yesterday. The NBA rewards losers. I propose a multi-level draft with multiple lotteries that change every season.
I call it the 10-10-10 system because there are 30 teams. Here's how it works.
The 10 worst teams are automatically thrown into a lottery regardless of record. Your record does not matter. In addition, a lottery will take place to determine if the total number of teams stays at 10 or moves up or down from 9 to 11. There is a 1 in 3 chance it will be 1 of the three each year. That means the worst 8 teams have no reason to tank, and 9 thru 11 have no reason to lose because they don't know where the lottery numbers will land them AND it changes every year.
The next set of (10) teams, depending on the first lottery, do the same thing and it allows them to add or subtract based on the same system. Again, wins or losses do not matter.
Finally the last 8 to 12 teams have a lottery. Wins and loses do not matter.
The worst teams are rewarded with one of the first 9 to 11 picks. And since there is a lottery for the first 2 sets of teams, it makes no sense to lose in a effort to secure a better pick.
Does the worst team have a chance to get the 11th overall pick? YES. Could they get the 1st pick? YES. Will they tank to get a better pick? NO.
Here's how it might work. The first 10 teams are in. The first lottery adds an 11th team. The next lottery determines the order in which they draft.
That leaves 9 teams left in the second subset of 10. Another lottery determines NO teams are added. That means the next 9 teams go into the next lottery to determine draft order.
There are now 10 teams left. They also go into a lottery to determine the order in which they draft.
That order holds through every round until the draft is complete.
The following year the process is repeated.