“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

This Baudelaire line by way of the 1995 film The Usual Suspects encapsulates one of the more insidious aspects of the NBA, specifically the mechanism which ensures that abject failure reaps the highest rewards—next to winning a Championship.

Evidence of tanking, where teams deliberately lose games to raise their chances of getting a high pick in the NBA draft, has become increasingly more obvious in recent years. With an NBA general manager recently going so far to admit (albeit anonymously) that tanking is a strategy his team plans to employ this year, where does that leave the state of the NBA?

As of this writing, the Philadelphia 76ers are 3-0—their best start in seven years, which stands in direct defiance of Las Vegas oddsmakers who put them at 9,999-1 for winning the title. The 76ers are a perfect example of a team set up to fail by its management, making no significant moves in the offseason besides stockpiling expiring contracts and draft picks.

But the 76ers players apparently aren’t “in” on tanking, a fact for which there is no better proof than in the caliber of the teams they have overcome: the reigning champs Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls are title contenders, while the Cleveland Cavaliers are hyped to make some noise in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns (Philadelphia’s main rival for the league’s worst record) are likewise playing to win, delivering a last-second stunner against the Utah Jazz to advance to 2-0 on the season.

The devil is in the intangibles. There are few draft-class prospects since Lebron James that have garnered as much attention as Andrew Wiggins. Even so, we cannot forget that the history of the NBA draft is littered with regrets and surprises like the Portland Trailblazers squandering their number one pick on the chronically encumbered Greg Oden over Kevin Durant as well as the San Antonio Spurs cultivating a legitimate superstar in 15th overall pick Kawhi Leonard come to mind.

Luck is an undisputed part of the draft, a reality which front offices and fans alike continue to underestimate. With the top prize for the most futile record being a 25 percent stake for the number one pick in the 2014 NBA draft lottery, history will remind us that there are no guarantees in “riggin’ for Wiggins.”

This trend is a glaring blemish on the NBA brand and team sports in general. Teams who find themselves in the running for top draft picks year after year are clearly doing something wrong.

If tanking “correctly” means investing in players that have have no stakes in their team’s future, those teams are not only failing the fans and their current prospects, but also the players they one day hope to draft. Instead of working with what they have, teams continually find a bigger incentive in betting on the lottery because that’s what the rewards of the system encourages them to do.

A winning tradition, however, is a product of an environment where player improvement is a priority. Anything else is a hollow attempt at false progress.

amaenche@mavs.coloradomesa.edu