Many have laughed at Jaren Jackson Jr.'s season-ending surgery shortly after the Utah Jazz acquired him, since, despite his addition, they've limited his minutes to help their tank. However, it came out a few days ago that JJJ was on a minutes restriction and that he delayed surgery to gain familiarity with his new teammates, meaning the NBA misread the situation before punishing Utah.
Yahoo Sports! Kevin O'Connor confirmed as much on his podcast. Furthermore, he confirmed that because of his upcoming surgery, JJJ first wanted to play with his new teammates for a few games before the procedure to gain some familiarity.
(He also acknowledged that it doesn't explain them benching Lauri Markkanen and Jusuf Nurkic)
The funny thing is, this punishment was basically invented by the NBA in the first place because, unlike last year, when Utah got fined for benching Markkanen, they were fined for breaking a rule because he fit the definition of a star. This time, they weren't breaking any rules, but it was a problem for the league, likely because this was affecting the bettors.
Plus, Shams Charania put it plain English: the Jazz were fined *specifically* for benching JJJ.
On Feb. 7 and 9, the Jazz removed Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. before the beginning of the fourth quarter and did not return them to the game. The Pacers were fined for violating the player participation policy for holding out Pascal Siakam and two other starters Feb. 3. https://t.co/DNTenVwZwW
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 13, 2026
Okay, so it doesn't necessarily absolve them of their actions with Markkanen and Nurkic, but
Does this subtract from the fact that such a strategy helps the Jazz's tank? No, but it basically confirms that it's largely not relevant. What the Jazz did with Jackson was primarily to help him get familiar with the team before it flips the switch next season. Doing so also stirred up even more excitement among the fans for what is to come.
It's understandable that the NBA wants to crack down on tanking, but they either handed out the punishment before they got the full scope of the situation or they did so knowing what was going on and did it anyway.
Will the Jazz get any more fines?
This is the second straight season in which Utah has gotten punished by the NBA for tanking. Because of the JJJ trade, many believe this is the last year they will intentionally be bad. However, with the NBA's sixth-worst record, and with the teams behind them amplifying their tanking efforts, Utah will likely only triple down on losing as we enter the home stretch.
They executed this strategy to circumvent the NBA's rules, and they still got punished. With this latest punishment, they'll likely find a way around that. The NBA didn't like Utah not playing Markkanen in the fourth quarter. Well, who's to say that they won't play for him the first minutes of the fourth quarter, and then take him out?
Will the NBA punish them then? Judging by how they've unfairly handled this most recent situation, probably. Utah's more than happy to pay the fines because next year, they won't care in the slightest about getting the highest possible pick.
But don't be surprised if these next two months only get more unpleasant.