Win or lose, the dirty little secret is where Heat fans will spend their time after the games — NBA Tankathon — a website that provides live updates on the NBA Draft Lottery standings, mock drafts, and lottery simulations.
But wait — it's not what you think. While most think of the website as a place fans rooting for losses head to, Heat fans will be stuck on the site for more pure reasons. Let us explain.
What Makes NBA Tankathon So Addicting?
Whether you're a Heat fan rooting for losses to maximize the chances of landing the number one pick (almost certainly Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, an NBA-ready star), or just tracking other teams’ positions in the draft lottery, there's no denying that NBA Tankathon is addictive. And that, as with the NBA Draft lottery, is by design.Think of the NBA Tankathon as a slot machine for sports transaction nerds. It's a hypothetical simulation of what could be available 24 hours a day at your fingertips. It also provides a silver lining after every loss. In a Tankathon-twisted world, a loss equates to a win, giving your team additional Ping-Pong balls for the eventual lottery and moving its chances of landing the top selection in the NBA lottery up a few percentile.
As the season progresses, Tankathon traffic increases as fans with nothing to hope for on the court increasingly simulate the NBA Draft lottery process to find out, hypothetically, of course, where their team might land in the 2025 NBA Draft on June 25 and 26 — a draft class projected to be one of the deepest and most talent-rich in years.
What makes this draft so intriguing for Heat fans? They could have one, two, or no picks in it. And it's all up to the play on the court, and, of course, how the lottery plays out. Hence the addition to simulating it.
Heat: Double The Lotto Chances
Thanks to the trade of Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, the Heat acquired a 2025 first-round pick that is protected for the top ten selections. Miami will receive it if the Warriors’ pick falls outside the top ten. However, that’s only part of the equation.The Heat’s 2025 first-round pick is owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder, unless Miami misses the playoffs and lands in the lottery (picks one to 14), in which case they retain the selection.
Got all that? Good. Now, hit "SIM LOTTERY" a million times on the NBA Tankathon site to discover the infinite ways the chips could fall, both good and bad, for the Heat.
The Heat’s History of Tanking
As we advised at the beginning of this article: Don't take the domain name NBA Tankathon too literally here. The Heat won't be tanking for a draft pick. Well, not until the final games of the season. That much we can be sure of, at least.Claiming the Heat would never tank would be misleading, as they notoriously did so in 2008, finishing 15-67, landing the second overall pick and selecting Michael Beasley. They fell just short of the draft’s top prize, Derrick Rose, whom the Chicago Bulls selected first after winning the lottery with less than a two percent chance at the top pick.
Two seasons later, the Heat would trade Beasley to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a pair of second-round draft picks. Knowing the Heat traded Beasley to clear salary cap space for Miami, allowing them to sign free agents LeBron James and Chris Bosh, as well as re-sign Dwyane Wade, makes the destination worth the painful tanking journey.
Still, you can bet the Heat learned their lesson and have since shied away from ever considering losing on purpose again.
But that won't stop us from visiting NBA Tankathon after every loss between now and the end of the season.
