Jahlil Okafor talks tanking following victory in the Big Apple

NEW YORK—Less than six miles from Duke's victory against Stanford at the Barclays Center, two of the NBA's worst teams were battling for the chance to draft Blue Devil center Jahlil Okafor.

With another star-studded freshman class expected to make the jump to the pros after one collegiate season, conversation of tanking in the NBA is running rampant. On the evening when the hometown New York Knicks (4-10) knocked off the Philadelphia 76ers (0-13), talk of the NBA's bottom-feeders seeped into the Duke locker room.

The 6-foot-11 freshman, who many expect to leave the Blue Devils after one season and be the top pick in the NBA draft this June, said he hears from fans of the league's most lovable losers on a regular basis via social media, hoping that Okafor will be the answer to their team's prayers come summer.

"I get Sixers fans tweeting me, Knicks fans tweeting me, Lakers fans tweeting me, so I see a lot of that stuff when I get on Twitter," Okafor said.

Okafor added that his favorite part of tanking talk is the creative slogans fans come up with to describe their team's mission to land the top pick in the draft. Ever since the Indianapolis Colts went 2-14 in their infamous 2011 "Suck for Luck" campaign. Last year in college basketball, it was a battle between "Riggin' for Wiggins" and "Sorry for Jabari." The most popular slogan for teams pining for the Duke center is "Lose More for Okafor."

So when a reporter asked Okafor what he thought of the idea "Keep your wins low for Winslow" in reference to his Duke teammate Justise Winslow, Okafor couldn't help but crack a 7-foot smile.

"I love that one," he said.