Utah was the talk of the league because its latest tanking strategy was both egregious and seemed to find a loophole in the league system. Utah’s two biggest stars — Lauri Markkanen and just-acquired Jaren Jackson Jr. — qualify as stars under the league’s player participation policy. So the Jazz made sure they competed — the stars played 25 minutes in the first three quarters of the games against the Magic and Heat, and in both games the Jazz took a lead. Then they benched the stars for the entire fourth game, no matter what (Utah blew the lead to Orlando, who held on against Miami).
The NBA was not amused and on Thursday fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 for “conduct detrimental to the league.”
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The NBA also fined the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for “violating the player participation policy in connection with the team’s game against the Utah Jazz on February 3.” Indiana sat star Pascal Siakam for this game, but the league determined he was healthy enough to play.
“Overt behavior like this, which prioritizes draft position over winning, undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Additionally, we are working with our competition committee and board of governors to implement additional measures to eradicate this type of behavior.”
Utah’s Jackson is now outprobably for the rest of the season, following knee surgery.
With 10 teams – or a third of the league – actively trying to lose games for the rest of the season, heading into what is considered one of the best and deepest drafts of the last two decades, tanking has become THE history around the NBA. While Utah and Indiana have been fined, many other teams are tanking but can dodge the league’s official wrath because they have no players who meet the league’s criteria for a “star player” (an All-Star or league award winner in the last three years).
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The problem with the NBA is that there is no right answer. The fact is that landing the No. 1 pick (or a high pick) can completely change a franchise’s fortunes (Cooper Flagg in Dallas, Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio, Cade Cunningham in Detroit, Anthony Edwards in Minnesota, and those are just recent examples). Taking short-term losses to increase the odds of getting a better lottery pick and potentially attracting a player like that is worth it.
Expect the league to take some small steps this offseason. The most likely option is to limit draft pick protections to just 1-4 or the lottery, because this season Utah and Washington have incentive to tank because they have the top eight picks protected.
But that doesn’t solve the main problem of incentivizing teams to lose because of the potential of what a top pick can mean (even if the NBA Draft Lottery odds are flattened). While there are suggestions that would remove these incentives altogether (all lottery teams have the same odds, or a predefined cycle of when and where teams draft, commonly referred to as “the wheel”), this takes away hope from fans of struggling teams. The league and sports fans in the United States in general like the idea of ​​parity and giving the worst teams a chance if they are managed and coached well, and these systems remove that.
For now, the Jazz and Pacers are paying out of pocket to get caught in what a third of the league is doing.
