The NBA’s tanking crisis is reaching a fever pitch, and even longtime supporters of the league like Dan Patrick are starting to get worried.
NBA teams’ tanking is nothing new. But this season, it has gone to extremes that Adam Silver and the rest of the league cannot be comfortable with. The Utah Jazz are playing their starters for three quarters and then sitting them for the fourth. Trae Young and Anthony Davis aren’t likely to suit up for the Washington Wizards this season, even though both were acquired before the trade deadline. And several other teams have all given up on the season before even the All-Star Game.
And that’s on top of the load-management debate, which has seen stars continue to sit out games despite the league’s best efforts to get them to play more often. That was seen when LeBron James and almost the entire Los Angeles Lakers starting lineup sat out against the San Antonio Spurs in a home game on Tuesday.
And Dan Patrick says that if the stars aren’t playing, he’s tuning out. And the league has to work to regain his trust.
“If they’re not playing, I’m not watching. You’ve got to win me back – I’m an NBA fan for 60 years!”
– DP on NBA tanking and load management. pic.twitter.com/DaGmlZ7Kev
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) February 11, 2026
“Is Trae Young playing? This is a guy who was averaging 27 and 10. I don’t know. After a while, if they’re not playing, I’m not watching. And you’ve got to win me back,” Patrick said. “And I’m an NBA fan for 60 years, but after a while, you’re like, ‘Who’s playing?’ Imagine you go to the Spurs game. Now, you got treated to Victor Wembanyama. But it’s like no LeBron, no Luka. That might be the one time that you’re gonna go, and you’re gonna take the family to see them.”
As was pointed out by Bill Simmons and Nick Wright in a podcast focused on the macro issues facing the NBA, there are now serious questions being pointed towards Adam Silver to do something to gain control over the situation as tanking throughout the league has spiraled beyond a point of no return.
“I don’t know what the commissioner can do. I mean, we’ve been down this road. We’re gonna continue to go down this road. The regular season doesn’t mean anything,” Patrick added.
The NBA is in the first year of billion-dollar media deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon. They cashed in with a huge increase in rights fees. But years of guaranteed revenue can not mean the Association can afford to rest on its laurels. And right now the league is hit by stars missing games, both due to load management and tanking, which is a nightmare scenario for those rights retaining anything close to their present value.
The more games that stars miss, the less that fans are going to be willing to pay to see any regular-season action or even bother finding it on their television or streaming device. The NBA needs to act before they don’t just lose Dan Patrick but an entire generation of fans.
