Jazz owner claps back at NBA’s $500,000 tanking fine with eye roll emoji

The NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for keeping players off the court, a move the league called “overt” tanking to land a better draft position.

The league said the Jazz committed “conduct detrimental to the league” by removing star players Lauri Markkanen and recently acquired Jaren Jackson Jr. at the beginning of the fourth quarter in two recent road games: one against the Orlando Magic on Saturday and one against the Miami Heat on Monday.

The league contended that both Markkanen and Jackson were still able to play and their early removal put the outcomes of the games in doubt.

Jazz owner Ryan Smith shot back on social media with an eye roll emoji and said “agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense.”



The Jazz lost to the Magic, 120-117, but beat the Heat 115-111.

Jackson has played only three games for the Jazz after being sent there in a trade by the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 3, and the Jazz announced Thursday that he will be undergoing surgery to remove a growth in his left knee.

Unnamed sources told ESPN that Jackson will miss the rest of the season.

NBA officials said the Pacers, meanwhile, violated the league’s “Player Participation Policy” adopted in 2023 by keeping star Pascal Siakam and two other starters entirely out of a game at home against the Jazz on Feb. 3.

League officials said that, under the policy’s medical standard, Siakam and the other players, neither of whom were named by the NBA, could have played reduced minutes instead of sitting out.

“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 league statement.

The Jazz’s 2026 draft pick is protected if the team lands inside the top eight spots; if they pick ninth or lower, however, the pick would go to the defending NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Any NBA team that finishes in the bottom four spots in the league standings will pick within the top eight.