The NBA announced today in a press release (Twitter link) that it has fined the Jazz $100K for violating the league’s player participation policy.
According to the statement from the league, Utah did not properly make forward Lauri Markkanen available in its March 5 clash with Washington, in addition to other recent contests.
The NBA implemented its player participation policy in response to concerns about the rise of load management in recent years. As we outline in our glossary entry on the subject, the league can penalize a club for sitting out a star player in a nationally televised game, resting that player in road games, or shutting him down when he’s healthy, among other infractions.
Markkanen qualifies as a star and is affected by the player participation policy because he was an All-Star in 2023.
If the NBA fines Utah for another player participation policy violation this season, that second infraction would cost the team $250K, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).
It’s safe to assume the Jazz have been resting their leading scorer in an effort to improve their lottery odds. Ironically, Markkanen is having his least productive season yet among his three years in Utah.
Still, the seven-footer is averaging a solid 19.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.6 APG and 0.8 SPG in the 43 games he has played. He inked a new four-year contract extension last summer to stay with Utah through 2027/28.
At 15-50, the Jazz are the only team that has been eliminated from postseason consideration as of this writing and are on track to finish as one of the NBA’s three worst teams, which would give them the maximum possible odds at earning this year’s No. 1 overall pick (14%).
Markinin has been awol…have to wonder if they’re hiding an injury. Shady business tactics…
He is one of those players that is good but in no way an allstar. Besides offense he doesn’t do enough on court to call him a star. His assist average is terrible.
Yeah because hes probably injured. If warriors had signed him you’d be signing a different tune
i was never big on that trade. good player but not an all star as the asking price Utah wants for him.
I can see that. Although, his assist numbers were improving a lot in the last year. The Jazz have been helping a lot of guys on the team improve their assists I’ve noticed.
They’ve also been working with him on expanding his offensive weapons this year. That’s a big reason why his numbers are down compared to the two previous years. Both sides wanted to do some experimenting while winning wasn’t the priority.
The next two years are going to be harder for the Jazz to tank if he does continually expand his game. Many Jazz fans agree that it didn’t make sense to sign him. However, everyone loves the guy so I don’t blame the Jazz for signing him.
His contract does go down right when the tank should end. That is so the Jazz will have more flexibility to build the team around their star draft picks they get along with Markkanen as the 2nd or 3rd option.
Local beat reporters on X disclose every players’ injuries before every game. Last year Markkanen had a nagging shoulder injury he wore tape on the rest of the year.
This year, I do agree it’s been kind of hard to figure out if it’s his back or shoulder again? But instead it looks like the Jazz paid him big money to be happy and sit out.
Markkanen did seem really happy this Summer and most of year. Utah has a lot of great outdoor options that are likely more like Finland than most NBA destinations. They had him and coach go hiking for a promo earlier this year, for example. Looked like he was having fun. At at least there’s that.
The fine though is probably deserved. He probably does have or had injuries he was sitting out for, but probably could’ve played more.
Although, if I had to guess the fine is likely a roundabout way of fining a team for resting lots of guys. They’ve done it before and will do it again.
Tank Battle
Irving went down. Should Mavs shut down AD and Lively?
Embiid went down. Should 76ers shut down Maxey and George?
This is who Markkanen really is. It’s how he played in his first 5 seasons, before being traded to Utah. Never played a full season. Soft and under-achieving.
Markkanen’s stats improved in his first 2 seasons for a very bad Utah team , playing in non-competitive games. Utah mistakenly gave him a 5 year, $250M/yr deal.
In his 8th season, he’s back to his old self. He may be more talented than his current numbers, but that’s always been his problem. At $50M/yr for 4 more seasons, he’s an untradable drag on the Jazz rebuild.
This is going to sound strange, I’ve got a very close friend that works in the Bulls front office and he would always tell me the unspoken secret about Markkanen is that he is wildly home sick. And that’s a big reason for his inconsistent play. The Bulls would try to keep him busy and distracted as much as possible but it’s impossible to do that 24hrs a day and some days were just worse than others.
These these Golden State homers are still whining because he didn’t want to play for them. Move on! You got Jimmy Buckets.
Chucktoad1 said:
> These Golden State homers are still whining
You misspelled “winning”.
Thank God for Danny Ainge. Markkanen would have turned the Warriors into a lottery team.
I guess it must be hard to move on from someone who could of been around for years…
When you get a hot headed rental who can’t be relied on for a wide open 3 and is more often injured… And is close to retirement…
There’s bound to be sour grapes…
Jazz fumbled by not trading Lauri a couple of years ago when his stock was at its highest. Now he’s just a guy who puts up decent numbers on a bad team. Sometimes Ainge’s asking for too much pays off, sometimes it doesn’t.
Yes and no. He’s still young enough that it fit their timeline then. However, by doing that half rebuild, we’re all annoyed at, it would have been better to trade him so they could’ve fully rebuild, at least a bit better.
Ironically, playing Lauri would actually do good for the Jazz’s lottery odds
Cam, Markkanen has a super-power: in completing his 8th season, no team he’s been on has made the playoffs.
In fact, Markkanen has a chance to set the definitive Jazz-worthy NBA record: no NBA player has ever completed 12 seasons without participating in a playoff game. With 4 years left on his max deal at Utah, Markkanen is chasing the immortal Tom van Arsdale’s title as “NBA’s all-time loser”.
Jazz worthy, eh? I see your grudge against Ainge has transferred to the Jazz. I’m also seeing a lot of people who are tired of your “whining” not “winning”.
It’s time to drop your obsession and do something else with your life.
Benboy, I’d always assumed you were above personal attacks.
I lived in Utah in the 90’s, and they were my adopted team for a while. The fans were the best in the league. But it frustrates me that this generation of fans does not hold Jazz ownership and FO accountable. No other NBA fan base on Hoopsrumors responds so favorably to failure. That’s what I meant by “Jazz-worthy”. Agreed, it’s inappropriately nasty.
You’re the most honest and thoughtful of Jazz fans here, IMO. You’re right to criticize me for being so negative, so I’ll stop.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
It is a tough situation for Jazz fans. They always want to win, but they also want top talent. It’s been hard to do that without trades and the draft lately.
During the Spida years they were able to bring in Bojan through free agency, During the Deron era they signed Boozer. Now, since they’re rebuilding/retooling that’s just not going to happen, especially because trades have also tightened up, to a large degree. So the draft is the only way to get those players Jazz fans need and want.
I personally loose interest in the team when they go on losing streaks like this. However, I can appreciate the big picture above. That means I just have to put aside my ego during this rebuild and see how the front office does.
It’s not fun to watch, but at least I know it won’t be forever. Jazz fans are so passionate, especially at home games, that I just don’t see the players wanting to disappoint them for very long. That’s why it’ll really come down to the players and the coach. How long can they handle losing?
I hope it’s long enough to get a top 3-4 pick this year and next year. After that, I just don’t know what to expect until we see who they get in these drafts.
More nonsense from Silver. Either punish tanking or continue to reward it. Minor penalties for derivative offenses only lead to disparage treatment of teams engaged in what is in effect the same behavior.
This wouldn’t happen to a big market team unless there was fan outcry…
Wrong league. The NBA has been run by a group of owners of so-called “small market teams” since 2011. Big market teams have zero say in the CBA or much of anything else.
Interesting that of all the teams, the Lakers were the only team that got a chance to land Doncic. Clearly the haul would have been much greater had other teams been able to bid on him.
It’s like a kindergarten teacher deciding who needs a timeout and who doesn’t
Agreed ,total nonsense
Good now do Toronto, sittin 25 year olds every other game when there isn’t even a B2B
What about everyone else who has been doing the same thing? Just use Utah and Danny as a example. Crap like that shows how corrupt everything is really
It shows the system isn’t perfect. However, it’s still better than what they had before. It used to just be reverse order of record. Then it was a mix of then and now. Now they give every non-playoff team a shot.
How else could they improve it?
It wouldn’t be a competitive league if playoff teams also had a shot at top picks, for example. They also already have these fines to discourage resting players.
They could introduce some sort of reward system, but there’s too many teams to be even. Would take 30 years to even out, if it’s just one reward.
Maybe they could divide the luxury tax money by your record? The best records get a higher percentage of the luxury tax money, amongst teams not over the tax.
Money is a big motivator for a lot of these owners. To go hand-in-hand with winning makes perfect sense.