As of March 17, the Utah Jazz have the NBA's sixth-toughest remaining schedule, per Tankathon. That's good news for the tank, but by that same metric, five of their tanking competitors (intentional or unintentional) - Memphis, Indiana, Dallas, Washington, and New Orleans - have tougher schedules than them. In that order, no less.
The Jazz want to move up as highly as possible while also ensuring no one surpasses them in their current spot at No. 5. They're in good position to keep it, and to make things better, the Pelicans have every reason to get the best record from here on out, and they have only continued to help the Jazz's tank since beating them in consecutive matchups a few weeks ago.
With 14 games left in the season, Utah has four games against four of the NBA's 10 worst teams: Washington, New Orleans, Memphis, and Milwaukee. It's in their best interest to lose to them to better odds or, at the very least, not damage them.
We'll exclude New Orleans because their plans to win as many as they can this late coincide with the Jazz's plans to lose as many as they can this late, so it'd be a shock if neither of their plans works out when they face off for the last time.
Washington: They are three-and-a-half games ahead of Utah in the tanking game. They've lost 12 in a row and missed their chance to get a top-five pick after a buzzer-beater in their season finale gave the Jazz better odds than them last year.
Memphis: They are three-and-a-half games below Utah in the tanking game. They've lost eight in a row and have been on a downward spiral since the JJJ trade, along with various injuries. With the hardest schedule left in the NBA, it would take a miracle for them to surpass Utah, but never say never.
Milwaukee: They are eight-and-a-half games below Utah in the tanking game, so catching them is laughably out of the question. They've gone 2-8 over their last 10 games. They want to be bad, but not too bad, as being worse than New Orleans will lead to a swap.
Odds are that they will probably win at least one of those games
The Jazz, sadly, aren't alone in trying not only to get a high pick but also to ensure it doesn't go to someone else. The Wizards are in the same predicament, and they've been consistently worse all season. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Washington beats Utah in their tankapalooza.
The Grizzlies have been bad and will probably pull out all the stops to get the highest pick possible. With them trending downward both now and likely for the next few years, and the Jazz going the opposite direction after this season, JJJ's former team might out-tank Utah.
Also, no matter how bad a team is, when there are 14 games left, they don't lose all of them. Utah's been bad, but even with all the players on the shelf at the moment, they're not historically bad.
Something everyone needs to keep in mind is that getting the fifth-worst record puts the Jazz in an excellent position to keep their pick, let alone get a high one, and going to sixth-worst isn't all that much worse. The best position the Jazz can hope for is a bottom-four record, as it gives them a 100% chance at keeping their pick, but they'll live with 96-99%.