NBA Finals matchup shows that tanking is overrated

There's an epidemic of NBA teams losing on purpose for multiple seasons in hopes of getting a top pick. Yet this year's NBA Finals features two teams with just one top-five pick among all their players.

Chet Holmgren was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, behind Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic. That's the lone season that the Oklahoma City Thunder or Indiana Pacers got lucky with the ping pong balls in the NBA Draft Lottery in advance of this year's Finals.

The Thunder's starting lineup features Holmgren, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (No. 11 pick, 2018), Jalen Williams (No. 12, 2022), Isaiah Hartenstein (No. 43, 2017) and Lu Dort, who was undrafted.

The Pacers start Tyrese Haliburton (No. 12, 2020), Andrew Nembhard (No. 31, 2022), Aaron Nesmith (No. 14, 2020), Pascal Siakam (No. 27, 2016) and Myles Turner (No. 11, 2015). Their highest-drafted player is Bennedict Mathurin (No. 6, 2022), who comes off the bench. There are plenty of late-lottery picks on these teams, but not a lot of no-doubt prospects coming out of college.

Both teams have managed to build extremely deep and talented rosters while rarely being all that bad. The Pacers' lone miserable season came in 2021-22, when they went 25-57, a rebuilding season in which they traded three starters and two top reserves, while losing their backup point guard to an Achilles tear.

The Thunder did their own rebuild following the 2018-19 season by trading All-Stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George during the summer, yet finished fifth in the Western Conference in 2019-20 anyway. That's when they did a full teardown of their roster, trading four of their starters and parting ways with head coach Billy Donovan. Still, two seasons later, they went 40-42 and won a play-in game.

So the next time a bad team throws in the towel for multiple seasons, realize that extreme tanking hasn't helped an NBA team make the Finals in over a decade. The last one? The Thunder themselves, back in 2012. Maybe the secret isn't tanking — it's having a guy like Sam Presti or Kevin Pritchard make your picks.