NBA's worst teams on wild combined losing streak

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has vowed to make rule changes to discourage tanking after this season. Until then, the league's worst teams simply can't stop losing.

The bottom 10 teams in the NBA are on a cumulative 40-game losing streak, with the Brooklyn Nets having lost nine straight and the Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards all winless in their last six games. It's a perfect storm of injuries to stars, a strong draft and avoiding playing other tanking teams that's caused some ugly basketball.

Injuries have swelled the ranks of miserable teams

NBA teams have always been incentivized by the draft lottery to be really bad instead of only a little bit bad, once they look like they're missing the playoffs. But injuries this season have expanded the group of teams without playoff hopes earlier than usual.

Some teams went into the season trying to win. The Dallas Mavericks lost Anthony Davis for most of the season and eventually traded him, while giving up on bringing back Kyrie Irving. The Sacramento Kings lost Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray. Giannis Antetokounmpo had two serious injuries for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Other teams had players opt for season-ending surgeries, like Jaren Jackson, Jr. of the Jazz, Zach LaVine of the Kings and Zach Edey of the Memphis Grizzlies. All that's left is the bottom third of the league scrambling for victories.

Draft prospects keep looking better and better

Freshman AJ Dybantsa is leading the nation in scoring with 24.8 PPG for the BYU Cougars. Cameron Boozer averages 22.6 points and 10 rebounds while shooting over 40 percent from three-point range for the Duke Blue Devils. North Carolina's Caleb Wilson isn't far behind with 19.8 points and 9.4 boards, yet Darryn Peterson of Kansas might og No. 1 ahead of all three.

All that makes getting a top pick more enticing and opens the door for losing shenanigans. The Wizards signed Angel Reese's brother, Jordan Reese, out of the G League, and played him 61 minutes in his first two NBA games. Cam Thomas was second on the Nets in scoring, and the team released him.

Of course, the combined losing streak is also due to the tanking teams not being forced to play each other recently. As much as the bottom of the league may want to avoid it, each game still has to have a winner. Even if the tanking team that comes out on top feels like a loser overall.