Then have a 24 team league with a 12 team relegation league or something. You have 4-5 teams move down and up any given year, and you spend at most 3 years in the relegation league. Maybe have an auto-promotion for teams in the top-2, then anyone else gets automatically promoted after spending 3 years in the relegation league.

All of the relegation league gets the same odds on draft picks and get picks before the top-tier teams. Trades and free agency can move players between teams of the respective leagues, but the same salary cap and FA rules apply. There will be some regular season games between the leagues (maybe 1-2 games between relegation/premier leagues), and the long-term contracts with teams would stay in effect even if teams get demoted.

Anyway, just some thoughts floating around in my mind this morning as we head into unabashed full-scale tank season in the NBA.