The Utah Jazz have been fined $100,000 by the NBA for violating the league’s player participation policy.
According to the league’s media release, the violation occurred when the Jazz failed to make Lauri Markkanen available against the Wizards in Washington on March 5. Markkanen is a star player under the policy and has been left out of other games as well.
The Wizards won that game, 125-122.
The purpose of the policy is to promote participation in regular season games and was introduced before the 2023-24 season.
Utah currently holds the second-worst record in the league at 15-50. It’s been playing with eyes toward the lottery for some time now.
Jazz Problem Or League Problem?
In effect, the league is fining Utah for not following “tank protocol.” With no actual injury or wellness reason provided for why Markkanen didn’t play the game, the Jazz opened the door for this fine.
The bigger problem, though, is tanking has been made such a viable option for teams out of the Play-In Tournament picture.
There are currently seven teams with a record at least 20 games under .500 and all of them can be considered guilty of similar tactics as the Jazz. The only difference is they haven’t breached the injury report protocol the way Utah did.
Markkanen Missing In Action When It ‘Counts’
The Finnish star played in just 55 games last season and is currently at 43 this season.
Averaging 25.6 points and 8.6 rebounds, he had an All-NBA-caliber season in 2022-23, but Utah has been irrelevant ever since.
A rebuild was the clear direction after trading both Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Envisioning when the next stage of winning will transpire is the hard part for Utah.
Markkanen remains a pivotal piece. Walker Kessler has shown promise, but his usage and rotation patterns have been puzzling the last couple seasons. Rookie Kyle Filipowski has also flashed intrigued when receiving opportunities this season.
Is Isaiah Collier or Keyonte George the future at guard? Why didn’t John Collins get traded? What does Collin Sexton’s long-term outlook look like?
There are as many questions as there are answers for the Jazz right now.
