The NBA believes changes made to the lottery a few years ago have improved its issue of teams tanking.

Some have suggested eliminating the draft altogether would make for a better system. Under that system, teams would use cap space or exceptions to sign players entering the league.

"You're dealing with a 14% chance of getting the first pick," Silver said. "I recognize at the end of the day analytics are what they are and it's not about superstition. A 14% chance is better than a 1% chance or a no percent chance. But even in terms of straightforward odds, it doesn't benefit a team to be the absolute worst team in the league, and even if you're one of the poor-performing teams, you're still dealing with a 14% chance [of winning the lottery].

"It's one of these things where there's no perfect solution, but we still think a draft is the right way to rebuild your league over time. We still think it makes sense among partner teams, where a decision was made where the worst-performing teams are able to restock with the prospects of the best players coming in. So we haven't come up with a better system."