The Utah Jazz have pulled out all the stops to fuel this season. For what it’s worth, it was a little different than last season as their main priority was keeping their pick away from OKC. However, the NBA has tried to send a message to the Jazz by punishing the actions taken, but the Jazz themselves have made one thing clear: they don’t care.
Many rolled their eyes after Lauri Markkanen’s most recent injury, believing it might just be an excuse for him to be benched, but it appears his injury is very real. Still, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Markkanen is out longer than the recovery time for injuries like his.
It would fit with what they’ve done. Jusuf Nurkic was recently ruled out for the season following his nose surgery, but it seems suspicious that he opted to do so in order to cut a year short of his contract with two months remaining.
It all points to what the Jazz are willing to do to ensure they have a high lottery pick. The NBA has tried to get them, but Utah has shrugged it off every time. As long as their choice is not taken away, they will continue to do it.
Don’t worry NBA! It’s almost over! (For Utah, that is)
The league isn’t happy with how the Jazz have conducted themselves over the past two seasons. Last year they fined the Jazz for fining a perfectly healthy Markkanen, which they were certainly entitled to, but this year they fined Utah based on the accusation that they benched their guys in the fourth quarter for several games.
Technically, the Jazz didn’t do anything against league rules at the time, and they didn’t bother asking why Utah Markkanen, Nurkic, or Jaren Jackson Jr. had put on the couch before approaching them.
Even with the Jazz’s shady tactics, the league can be happy that Utah won’t be doing this again for a while as the wheels are in full motion to make the playoffs in 2027. It won’t bear fruit for another year, but at least the worst of this rebuild will finally be over, and the NBA won’t have to worry about what Utah does anymore.
Bad news: Teams will only continue to tank
While the Jazz will no longer be a problem, the NBA needs to realize that teams like the Jazz don’t care about the penalties imposed on them if they deliberately throw away their season(s) for a chance at a higher pick.
The league has been trying to combat this for years, but teams still do it because they don’t have better options. They could try to change it to completely discourage tanking, but then they risk losing money due to fan disinterest.
The NBA is absolutely right to try to combat tanking, because it’s not great to see a team lose by design. There’s really no surefire way to get rid of it, though, because rebuilding teams don’t place any value on what the league does to hold them back.
If the Jazz win a title in ten years, tanking absolutely has something to do with it, but Utah doesn’t care how they got there, just like anyone else wouldn’t.
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