Earlier today, the Utah Jazz lost yet again to the Dallas Mavericks, who were right behind them in the tanking race before their last two consecutive games against each other. Both teams were heavily undermanned, basically confirming both of their intentions to tank, but the bigger story is the fact that the NBA punished the Jazz for this last year, and that hasn't stopped them.
The Salt Lake Tribune's Andy Larsen revealed that, in addition to Lauri Markkanen, Utah also sat Jusuf Nurkic and Svi Mykhailiuk. He also added that, from the horse's mouth, Will Hardy has not heard from the league.
Will Hardy says Jazz are sticking with the same starting lineup against the Mavericks this afternoon… which likely again means no Jusuf Nurkic or Svi Mykhailiuk.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 17, 2026
Also says he hasn’t heard from the league about his DNP-CDs.
Larsen also added why this could be a problem for the NBA.
I did ask. The league could conceivably care for a few reasons, like: they want the best product on the floor, or their gambling partners want transparency on who plays on any given night, or their fans want transparency on who plays on any given night.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 17, 2026
The league took action about this last year by fining the Jazz for keeping Markkanen on the bench. They got punished for this because Markkanen was a recent All-Star of record, so they weren't too happy about Utah benching its most big-time player in these matchups.
Now the Jazz are basically doing it again, and they've been doing it for some time. This shows the NBA really can't do anything when a team is tanking. It is a little different this season because there is more at stake for Utah - losing their pick to Oklahoma City if they're not bad enough - the intentions are still the same.
So what will the league do? The Jazz paid the fine and went right back to it anyway. They could make it not so obvious by playing Markkanen a few more games than last, but don't be surprised if only winds up playing a few more than he did last season.
The NBA can punish this, but outside of stripping Utah of their pick, which seems drastic, there's not really a plausible punishment that will get Utah, or any other team for that matter, to throw their season for a high pick to get the chance at a potential franchise player.
If this keeps up, another fine is inevitable
Another fine is probably coming to Utah. They'll pay it, and they may even show the league that this isn't the same case as last year. But only after they've ensured that they are no longer in danger of giving their pick up to the Thunder.
What could make the league feel better is that the Jazz probably won't do this again in 2027. They are just as sick of this as the NBA is. This is more or less the whiplash of being a team that didn't know where it was going after they had a surprisingly fun season directly after blowing it up.
The point still stands, though, that because they are blatantly tanking with the season halfway over, the league will probably issue a fine. If and when that's the case, what exactly will that do?