I like all of it at once: a 1-16 format, with a giant single-elimination play-in tourney for teams 13-20. 13 plays 16, 14 plays 15, then the two losers play the winners of 17-20 and 18-19. Expand the lottery to all the teams in the tourney and out of the playoffs, and unweight the chances of getting the top 3 picks significantly. Offer significant monetary bonuses to teams that make the playoffs or play-in tourney (not just players, but organizations, including partial luxury tax forgiveness and larger portions of the profit sharing). That should stop institutional top-down tanking almost entirely. Shorten the season to 72 games (in conference opponents x3, out of conference opponents x2), no more than 5 games every two weeks. Playoffs start first week of May after a ten day rest period for the play-in tourney. Players will want that 12th+ seed for the extra rest.
