It wasn't right away, but the Utah Jazz signaled pretty early on that they were tanking. Trading for Jaren Jackson Jr. wasn't going to change their current direction, and while they have been playing their guys more, they don't finish with them. It's an amazing strategy that the NBA hates, but simply put, nothing can be done about it.
NBA Insider Marc Stein outlined pretty clearly why the Jazz are doing this, which every Jazz fan should know by now. He also explained that they're not alone.
"The Jazz and the Wizards made the splashiest and most aggressive trades in the league last week, but make no mistake: Both teams remain desperate to finish with one of the league's four-worst records to ensure that they can't fall lower than eighth in May's draft lottery.
"Washington and Utah, you see, both hold a top-eight-protected pick in June that must be conveyed to New York and Oklahoma City, respectively, if their pick falls to No. 9 or lower. The only way to assure a top-eight pick is to secure one of the league's four-worst records," Stein wrote.
An executive told Stein explained that love it or hate it, what the Jazz are doing is smartly exploiting a loophole in the tanking game.
"They played all those players against Orlando. They didn't just sit everybody. You can't tell a team how to use their guys during a game."
Besides, they won last night
Utah executed the same strategy they had been doing the last two games against the Miami Heat last night - they didn't play Jackson, Lauri Markkanen, and Jusuf Nurkic in the fourth quarter - and it didn't matter; They won anyway.
A little inconvenient for sure. However, they are still the NBA's sixth-worst team, giving them a higher than 96% chance of keeping their pick. As long as they don't drop to No. 7 or lower, they are fine. They are three games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks in the tanking game right now, so as long as this doesn't become a pressing problem, they don't have anything to worry about.
It's very possible it could become a problem, which means the Jazz may have to go from this strategy of having their cake and eating it to going all in on being terrible to keep their pick. Fans can take issue with that, but any team would do what the Jazz are doing, no matter what fashion.
The Jazz may be trying to lose, but they are also trying to have some fun while they're at it. Next season, they will be on a completely different track. Sure, these next two months will be a tad grueling, but everyone should have known by now that this was the plan, and it should be worth it in the end.