The Utah Jazz has received a fine of $ 100,000 by the NBA for violating the player participation policy of the competition.
According to the media release of the competition, the violation took place when Jazz did not make Lauri Markkanen available in 5 March against the Wizards in Washington. Markkanen is a star player under the policy and is also omitted from other competitions.
The Wizards won that game, 125-122.
The aim of the policy is to promote participation in regular seasonal competitions and was introduced before the 2023-24 season.
Utah currently has the second worst record in the competition at 15-50. It has been playing with eyes to the lottery for a while.
Jazz problem or competition problem?
In fact, the UTAH competition does not follow ‘tank protocol’. Without actual injuries or welfare reasons, the game did for which Markkans did not play the game opened the door for this fine.
The bigger problem, however, is that tanking has been made such a feasible option for teams from the play-in-tournament photo.
There are currently seven teams with a record at least 20 races below .500 and they can all be considered guilty of similar tactics such as jazz. The only difference is that they did not violate the injury report protocol as Utah did.
Markkanen is missing when it ‘counts’
The Finnish star played in just 55 games last season and is currently 43 this season.
On average 25.6 points and 8.6 rebounds, he had an All-NBA-Kaliber season in 2022-23, but since then Utah has not been relevant.
A rebuilding was the clear direction after trading both Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Imagine when the next phase of winning will perspirate, the difficult part for Utah is.
Markkanen remains a crucial piece. Walker Kessler has shown promising, but his use and rotation patterns have been enigmatic in recent seasons. Rookie Kyle Filipowski has also been intrigued in receiving opportunities this season.
Is Isaiah Collier or Keyonte George the future on the guard? Why was John Collins not traded? What does the long -term front views of Collin Sexton look like?
There are so many questions as there are answers for jazz at the moment.
