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.
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.
aristotle’s comments are one if not the worst here at Hoopsrumors. Watch him turn everything he said about Markkanen into praise once he is acquired by the Warriors. See comments he made about Butler before he arrived at the Dubs.
He has no idea what he’s talking about but pumps out comments about every team. It’s remarkable.
He at one point said Sam Hauser was a center.
I muted him though He’s dull AF.
Yeah there’s a lot of hot air been fed out of San Fran…
I am not sold on him as a big star. He is more like the third best player on a playoff team. John Collins has about the same stats as he does. Not sure why some people thinks he is an all star when he is not your best player on a team
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.
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”.
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