The NBA is finally taking a stance against the tanking epidemic, and it starts with punishments for the teams that have been pushing it too far. The decision, announced by the league on Friday, includes a $500,00 fine for the Utah Jazz and a smaller, $100,000 fine for the Indiana Pacers over their clear violations of the player participation 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,” wrote NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in a statement. “Additionally, we are working with our Competition Committee and Board of Governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”
The Jazz have been egregious with their methods this season, and their games against the Magic on February 7 and the Heat on February 9 are the worst examples. In a bold decision, they benched their top players (Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr.) before the beginning of the fourth quarter. Considering both of them were healthy and available to play, there’s no other excuse for these absences other than that the Jazz were playing to lose.
The Pacers, meanwhile, got a much lighter penalty, stemming from their recent matchup against the Jazz on February 3. After review by an independent physician, they determined that Pascal Siakam and other starters could have played down the stretch, meaning the Pacers purposely withheld their best players for the purpose of losing the matchup.
The problem for these teams is not that they are going for a high lottery pick; it’s their reckless methods of obtaining it. Rather than playing their guys reduced minutes or limiting the absences to one or two players per game, the Jazz and Pacers (among other teams) have abandoned all subtlety, leading to poor-quality basketball that compromises the integrity of the game.
While these meager fines will barely be felt by the organizations, Silver isn’t stopping there. As he wrote in his statement, he’s working with the Board of Governors to implement further measures against this type of behavior. We don’t know what those measures will be yet, or when they will be added, but one increasingly popular option is having a tournament among lottery teams to determine draft order. Another idea is to create a certain cut-off date where losses no longer count toward lottery odds.
There are a few viable solutions to this growing problem, but it’s clear that Adam Silver will no longer let this slide. He’s seen enough over recent weeks to take serious action, and it might just change the draft process as we know it forever.
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