The NBA slammed the Jazz ($500,000) and Pacers ($100,000) with substantive fines, saying both teams sat healthy players in recent games in violation of the league’s player participation policy.
Both teams are near the bottom of the league, and the decision comes after the Jazz were fined for a similar reason last season.
“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Additionally, we are working with our Competition Committee and Board of Governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”
The NBA hit the Jazz with a fine due to instances on Feb. 7 and 9, against the Magic and Heat, respectively, when the league said Utah took out Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. before the start of the fourth quarter and did not have them play the rest of the night.
The games, respectively, and the league said that “these players were otherwise able to continue to play and the outcomes of the games were thereafter in doubt.”
Jazz owner Ryan Smith did not seem to agree with the NBA’s decision and took to social media to voice his opinion.
“Agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense,” Smith wrote.
The Pacers’ fine stemmed from a Feb. 3 game, ironically, against the Jazz, when Pascal Siakam and two other Indiana starters “could have played under the medical standard in the Policy, including by playing reduced minutes. Alternatively, the team could have held the players out of other games in a way that would have better promoted compliance with the Policy.”
The fines were handed out just before the start of the All-Star break.
