I think the tanking teams are just out of sight, out of mind. The NBA is very much a championship or bust league, but in any give year there's like 5-10 teams who need to win or they will be shamed for it. The odd thing about the NBA is that even though it's all about the one winner, it's really about the losers. Like I actually think with the way the league is covered ESPN is more likely to talk about the losers more than the winners. PHX losing is a bigger story than MIN winning for sure. I'm expecting another rant incoming from Michael Malone when all the talk is about the Lakers losing. The NBA media coverage is all about clowning on the losers. The bottom feeders attract some amount of that attention, but it's not comparable. And why would they? If a team isn't competitive, they are not relevant to that season. But as a result of that I don't think people look at tanking failures the same way as when you trade for one the biggest names in the league and get swept. There just isn't a spotlight on the bottom feeders. Behind the scenes, I don't think the actual decisions makers are phased. Teams that tank aren't going to be phased by tanking teams that still suck. Teams that go all in aren't going to be phased by another KD failure ect.
I think it's easy to forget this, but the other route to getting stars is also kind of insane...especially to an outsider. Like the idea of sucking on purpose for years just for a chance at one....and being persistent to suck long enough until you get "star" is crazy commitment on it's own. The idea of trading your future for one of these guys, even knowing that it will probably make you suck at some point, shouldn't seem crazy when the other popular strategy would be to suck on purpose for a chance at one. It's kind of a bird in hand vs two in the bush kind of thing. I don't want to get into the discussion as to which is better.....I'm just saying that even with all the failures of the bird in hand strategy, it will never go out of style. Let's say teams are more earie and there's like a 5-10% confidence reduction in that all-in, build super team strategy...I still think teams will be on their hands and knees begging for these guys and will jump at the opportunity to get them.
For example, I expect KD to demand a trade sooner or later, and even at 35+ any team that is able to will likely have some interest in doing it.