Utah Jazz & Indiana Pacers Hit With Fines After Tanking Allegations

Tanking in the NBA is a funny concept because in order to suck less in the future, you have to suck a lot more right now.

Teams have found ways to toe the line without being too obvious, but the NBA is fed up with the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers’ blatant lack of competitiveness.

League officials point to specific reasons for the Jazz, noting that several games led to a $500,000 fine for “conduct detrimental to the league.”

The games in question were against the Orlando Magic on February 7 and the Miami Heat on February 9. During those games, the Jazz removed “two of the team’s top players” in Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson, Jr., before the fourth quarter began. Despite the benching, the league believes “these players were otherwise able to continue to play, and the outcomes of the games were thereafter in doubt.”

Jazz owner Ryan Smith hopped on X to defend his team against the allegation, saying he’ll “agree to disagree” and notes that they actually won the Heat game.

As for the Pacers, they’ll have to fork over $100,000 for violating the Player Participation Policy.

Ironically, they were cited for a February 3 game against the Utah Jazz because “star player” Pascal Siakam and “two other Pacers starters” failed to play that night. With the help of an independent physician, the NBA concluded that they could have met the medical standard in the Policy by playing fewer minutes rather than not at all. The league also notes that the Pacers could have sat them out of other games to adhere to said policy instead of just the one game.

In a rare move, even Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement about tanking, saying that attempts to unfairly acquire better draft picks won’t be tolerated. 

“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,” said Silver. “Additionally, we are working with our Competition Committee and Board of Governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”

The Utah Jazz are 18-38, with the third-worst record in the Western Conference. The Pacers are 15-40, which has them second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, a far cry from last season, when they pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder to Game 7 in the Finals.

See social media’s reaction to both teams getting a slap on the wrist below.