On the eve of its glitzy All-Star Game, an event that itself has been criticized for a lack of competitiveness, the NBA has fined two franchises for “the management of their rosters during recent games.” In the vernacular, they were tanking.
Tanking is the term for teams that don’t expect to be competitive during a given season and so set out to lose intentionally in order to better their chances in the following year’s draft. (Draft lottery chances increase as a team’s place in the standings declines.)
The Utah Jazz (18-38) were fined $500,000 “for conduct detrimental to the league” related to games against the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat on February 7 and 9, respectively.
“During those games,” reads a statement from the league, “the Jazz removed two of the team’s top players, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson, Jr., before the beginning of the fourth quarter and did not return them to the game, even though these players were otherwise able to continue to play and the outcomes of the games were thereafter in doubt.”
As the league said today, “Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition.”
The Indiana Pacers (15-40) were fined $100,000 for not playing their stars at all.
After the team’s February 3 game against, ironically, the Utah Jazz, there were suspicions about the lack of availability of three Pacers players.
“Following an investigation, including review by an independent physician, the NBA determined that Pascal Siakam, a star player under the Policy, and two other pacers starters, neither of whom participated in the game, could have played under the medical standard of the Policy.”
While the other two players were not named, Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell also sat out.
Among the issues at play here is the quality of the product the league is putting on the floor at a time when it is demanding record broadcast fees. Further, there is the even uglier spectre of players and coaches themselves fixing games.
Last October saw the arrests of 30 individuals including the Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier, ex-Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones, and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups due to allegations of insider betting schemes and mob-backed poker games.
The optics of such scandals now jeopardize not only those rich rights deals, but pacts with online gambling outfits like PENN Entertainment, which is paying broadcast partner ESPN $150 million a year for 10-years for marketing services and the right to use the ESPN Bet brand in the U.S. If bettors don’t believe games are being played competitively, that money could be in jeopardy.