Ten NBA teams with tanking potential down the stretch

Between the insanity of the competition in the Western Conference and even some interesting races for positioning in the East, no one wants to talk about the other end of the spectrum as March kicks into high gear and April beckons.

But unfortunately, again, tanking is a necessary evil that will consume some of the headlines between now and the end of the season, and on that note, here are some potentially suspicious teams to keep an eye on down the stretch.

Bucks
The Bucks are 12-48 and remain the odds-on favorites to land the best lottery odds, but Milwaukee has quietly gone 3-5 over their last eight games after going 3-22 over their previous 25, and their three most recent wins have come against fellow tankers like the Jazz, Sixers and Magic. With games against teams like the Pelicans, Magic, Hawks (twice) and Lakers remaining, there remains at least a very slim possibility that the Bucks can grab the four to five wins necessary to give Philadelphia a chance to snag the No. 30 No. 1 spot. Call it the anti-tank, if you will, something fans in Milwaukee know all about.

76ers
No surprises here. Sam Hinkie took an already God-awful team that had merely been propped up by some early season competitiveness and some wins in close games, and traded away some of its best players for second round picks. The result? Philly has lost its six post-deadline games by an average of 17.7 points, has lost 15 straight overall by an average of 12.7 points and now boasts a point-differential of -11.2 for the season. The only team to post a worse differential than that over the last 14 years was the 2011-12 Bobcats, who were outscored by an average of 13.9 points a night en route to an all-time worst 7-59 season.

Magic, Celtics, Jazz, Lakers
These four teams are separated by just three games for the third-best to sixth-best lottery odds, and you can probably expect some interesting lineup decisions and possible mystery injuries over the season's final couple weeks. Orlando, at 19-44, is in the best position to land top-three odds, but don't discount the other three teams on this list.

After the Jazz followed up a 1-14 start to the season with a 20-22 stretch of competitive basketball, they have since lost four straight games by a combined 62 points, including blowout losses to the Bucks and Cavs, so there's probably plenty more where that came from with games against the Mavs (twice), Clippers, Spurs, Rockets, Grizzlies (twice), Thunder, Warriors, Trail Blazers and Timberwolves remaining on their schedule. The Celtics and Lakers, meanwhile, should say 'to hell with history' and look to bottom out during the final quarter of the season. Given the Lakers' injury depleted lineup and the fact that the Celtics will play 18 of their final 21 games against teams that are still at least somewhat in the playoff race, that shouldn't be too hard.

Pelicans
Before they cruised past the Lakers on Tuesday, the Pelicans had lost eight straight and 10 of 11. At 24-37, New Orleans is now within three games of a bottom-five standing, and that's significant because the team's traded first round pick to Philadelphia in the Jrue Holiday/Nerlens Noel deal is top-five protected for the next six years. The Pelicans will play nine of their final 10 games either on the road or against a Western Conference playoff team, so they shouldn't have to put any effort into losing in April, but if they can find creative ways to lose to teams like the Bucks, Nuggets, Celtics and Jazz in March, they might just be able to land themselves that top-five pick this year before making a playoff run next year and relinquishing their pick in 2015 instead.

Nuggets
The Nuggets have been in a free fall for weeks now, losing 11 of 12 before taking down the Mavericks in Denver on Wednesday night. With that, the Nuggets are now actually closer to the third-worst record in the league than they are to the West's eight-seed, and while neither spot is a likely outcome (They're still 8.5 games ahead of Orlando), the point is that they have little left to play for with 22 games to go. Remember that Denver will send the worst of theirs and New York's first round picks to Orlando as part of the Howard/Iguodala/Bynum trade, but they can still lose as many games as possible to maximize their odds of landing a top pick when combined with the Knicks' odds, since they will keep the better pick.

For example, right now the Nuggets are three games ahead of Cleveland for the ninth-best lottery odds. You may look at that and see that the No. 9 slot only brings a 6.1% chance at a top-three pick, but if the Nuggets can 'play' their way into that No. 9 slot and the Knicks were to remain in the No. 7 slot, Denver would actually have a 21.1% chance at a top-three pick and a 6.0% chance at winning the lottery. Those balls add up, and you can bet that the Nuggets losses will too.

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There are also a couple of longshot tankers...

Kings
The Kings have actually gone 16-16 with both Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins in the lineup, and if they were to simply play .500 ball the rest of the way while teams around them in the standings purposely free fall, it will hurt their positioning in one of the best drafts in some time. If Isaiah Thomas is re-signed, Gay opts into his lucrative player option and a 2014 lottery pick enters the fray to help this new Kings core emerge as a potential playoff team next season, falling a few spots in the lottery this year would be a worthwhile tradeoff.

But if Gay walks, Thomas isn't retained and the Kings are back at square one with Cousins again next season, a meaningless run to end this season could be costly. Sacramento may be enjoying their more competitive team right now, but the best thing would be to strategically fit some 'unfortunate' losing streaks into their stretch run.

Hawks
It seems odd to include the East's current No. 8 seed as a potential tanker down the stretch, but it's not without reason. When healthy, Atlanta looked like a legitimate top-four seed, but they've plummeted from No. 3 to No. 8 just in the last three-and-a-half weeks without Al Horford and now without Paul Millsap, losing 12 of their last 13 games. Getting Millsap back and the season long incompetence of teams chasing them like Detroit, Cleveland and New York should keep them in the playoff picture, but if the Hawks do relinquish the Conference's final playoff spot and start to look dead in the water, there may be no point in trying to right the ship this season.