Former No. 1 overall pick Kenyon Martin blasts 'disgusting' NBA tanking

The 2026 NBA Draft class has not even happened yet, but it's already pulling the league in different directions. The class is expected to be loaded, and teams sitting near the bottom of the standings know exactly what's at stake.

Landing a top pick could mean walking away with a talent like Kansas standout Darryn Peterson, BYU's AJ Dybantsa or Duke freshman Cameron Boozer. That is a tough carrot to ignore, and around the league, the belief is growing that some clubs stopped trying to win somewhere around early February.

Kenyon Martin goes off on NBA tanking

The NBA has been looking at ways to address tanking for a while. Some teams make that conversation hard to avoid.

Kenyon Martin, the 2000 NBA Draft’s No. 1 pick, went on record about it during a recent segment of "Yahoo Sports Daily," and he did not soften his take.

"This disgusting display of non-competitive organizations. I think it's awful for the game. I think it's awful for sports. Something has to be done. When you're making it blatantly obvious like that, the league has to step in. It has to be draft picks, some fines. Something has to give. Cuz it's no good for the fans.

"If anybody is cheated, it's the fans in these situations. These people are paying their hard-earned money to come out and see these guys play and cheer and root for them night in and night out, and you go out and do things like that."