The Jazz have been fined $500K for “conduct detrimental to the league” related to Utah’s games on February 7 (at Orlando) and Feb. 9 (at Miami), the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
Star forwards Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. sat out the entire fourth quarter of both of those contests, even though the league says they were “otherwise able to continue to play and the outcomes of the games were thereafter in doubt.” Utah was up seven points entering the fourth quarter against Orlando and wound up losing by three; on Monday, the team was up three points entering the final period and won by four.
Jackson, whom the Jazz recently acquired in a trade with Memphis, will undergo season-ending surgery for a growth on his knee over the All-Star break. According to Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Jazz wanted to shut Jackson down when they discovered the issue in his physical, but the former Defensive Player of the Year was “adamant” about his desire to play at least one home game before the procedure.
Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports has heard similarly, stating (via Twitter) that Jackson wanted to play a few games with the Jazz prior to undergoing surgery, which O’Connor calls preventive.
Sources tell Jones that Jackson was on a restriction of 25 minutes, which is one reason why he didn’t play in the fourth quarter of either of those games. Of course, even if that’s true, it doesn’t explain Markkanen’s absence.
Jazz owner Ryan Smith responded to the fine on social media (Twitter link), posting an eye roll emoji along with, “Agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense …”
The Pacers, meanwhile, were fined $100K for violating the NBA’s player participation policy in relation to Indiana’s game vs. Utah on Feb. 3. On the second night of a back-to-back, the Pacers didn’t play Pascal Siakam — who is considered a “star” under the terms of the policy — and two other starters (they weren’t specifically named, but the league was likely referencing Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith). The league claims all three of those players could have suited up.
Alternatively, per the NBA, the Pacers could have sat the players in other games in a way that would have “better promoted compliance with the policy.”
“Overt behavior like this that 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,” commissioner Adam Silver said in the press release. “Additionally, we are working with our Competition Committee and Board of Governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”
Somewhat hot take: If you are trying to tank, and still win the game(s), the fine should be reduced or have no fine at all.
Also where is the Wizards’ fine? Trae Young has been healthy for over a month now… it’s not just the Jazz and Pacers trying to tank
“Somewhat hot take: If you are trying to tank, and still win the game(s), the fine should be reduced or have no fine at all.”
You’re fining for the intent, not the result. Otherwise you’d just slap a fine on every awful team just because they suck. Jazz shouldn’t be able to wriggle out of their conduct just because the Heat are trash and blew the game.
What I really think is that more teams should get fined. Like the Wizards, Nets, Kings, etc. Make the punishment consistent. Teams over the past few years haven’t received any punishment for egregiously tanking. One team shouldn’t be blamed for something that has been done for years. Playing your guys for most of the game is better than not playing your guys at all.
A better hot take would’ve been selective enforcement is worse than no enforcement at all, which is something I could agree with.
Winning or losing should be irrelevant to the fine as rct said below. Intent is all that matters. And if anything, I would rather see the fine increased for the owner of a blatantly tanking team to have the gall to act innocent. It’s bad enough teams are tanking, although I don’t blame them purely from a logic perspective, but to play the victim in a case like this is a disgrace.
Teams owned by billionaires so these are like asking then for $1and $5 dollars. They lost the game like the FO wanted so they still win.You want to make this matter have it impact their draft chances.
Wouldn’t that be something? Drop their draft position by 1 the first time they’re fined… By 2 the second time and so on. THAT would have some teeth. Money is nothing more than the cost of doing business to the owners.
If nothing else, the ensuing lawsuits could be fun to watch.
Not all the league’s fault. Silver works for the owners and they are never going to agree to fines that would be prohibitively large, especially when the league has the power to hand them out at its own discretion. And a part of me can’t blame the owners for that because we do know the league loves to selectively enforce its rules.
A 500k fine is nothing compared to the millions generated by getting a superstar rookie in the draft.
Don’t let this stop you UTAH.
Go forth and tank the season.
Imo JJJ and Laurie play same position. The future is Kessler , JJJ, Bailey. But a small ball lineup of Lauri, JJJ, Bailey is pretty awesome ……
But a 2-5 of Bailey, Lauri, JJJ and Kessler is even more fun!
That’s gonna be a hell of a lineup next season. Even with George at PG the starting lineup will have an average height of a little over 6’9″.
Give the fans their money back. Thats a rough watch to begin with.
“Overt behavior like this that 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,” So fine yourselves for continuing to allow it to happen? Like this issue isn’t new, and he’s going to continue to complain about it and also continue to do nothing about it.
Where does the money go? You also let load management get way out of hand. LeFraud hasn’t suited up against the Spurs in four meetings. The stat pad kill literally avoids all the smoke against other stars. Been doing it for years.
Believe it or not, the money goes to Stephon Marbury.
Better than nothing. Noise got way too loud for the Jazz after the JJJ surgery announcement.
Anyone know what the max fine the league can impose on a team is? Is that something that even has a definitive end number?
Specifically for CD I should add*
Protected picks don’t help the situation, it should be disallowed. But, they need to make more serious punishments or this won’t change anything.
As long as there is a system in place that rewards losing, teams will continue to tank.
Reward success, not deliberate failure.