Humans can't process probability well, it's why I have a job and also why my job is being taken over AI

Having said that, I think a big argument for tanking is that there often isn't much incentive to not tank. There's really no point to having players that are non-essential to the future. I think for guys like Lauri and Walker, it's more clear that it's worth whatever tanking cost they are worth (though Lauri's contract is getting sketchy). It would depend on the trade package return for them. But for guys like John and Sexton, you have to ask that question as to what their future is beyond their current deals. As you're tanking, their winning value is strictly negative. I don't look back at many of the vets we traded and think we made a mistake and wish we still had them. The opposite is true, I wish we traded them earlier.
One of the reasons why I liked this roster going into the year is that I don't think we had much non-essential personal. Everyone was either a young player, a player that will be good for the distant future, or a bad salary that would cost something to get rid of. In other words, everyone had a purpose and/or reason for being on the team. Only issue with how it's played out IMO is that we have basically nerfed Sexton's trade value. If that was the plan, he should have already been gone. I don't really see a future for him here beyond his current deal (and he's easily replaceable), so I'd consider him a player with no purpose on this roster.
BTW, we should include ADP in this calculation, not just the #1 pick odds if we're going to be so specific about what we should consider. ADP is still very close, much and much tighter than people realize IMO, but we should be fair on both sides. Odds at #1 is not the only reason why a higher lotto position is more valuable.