Tanking is not what has hurt the league. It's the quality of play, the obnoxious amount of foul calls, the flopping and flailing from the players, and the complaining. Catering everything to the star players at the expense of the quality of the game itself is not a good way to operate. Not allowing the worst teams in the league to draft the best players is a great way to make sure they stay the worst teams in the league. That is sure to prevent any interest from those fan bases. The NFL doesn't do this with their draft and tanking hasn't been an issue for them. It feels to me like the NBA has its priorities a little mixed up here - and that's not just my opinion - you can see it in the decline in ratings YoY since the early 2010s