If you didn’t notice, the Utah Jazz have become a point of interest for the entire NBA this week because of how they decided to rest their players. Considering the Jazz are the last thing the NBA and media outlets worry about, it’s a little surprising. Utah has done nothing different than the other tanking teams, until two games ago.
For some reason, Utah’s decision to rest players in the fourth quarter brought the absolute ire of every team in the league. But to be quite honest, it’s a bunch of bad-faith
nonsense that the Utah Jazz should ignore.
Utah is doing things in a better way
So apparently, there’s an unwritten rule (and that’s literal because Utah has not broken any actual rules this season) that it is better for a team to trade for a player and not play them for the rest of the season than what the Jazz are doing. The Washington Wizards traded for Trae Young and Anthony Davis but have announced they’re out for the season. The Pacers just traded for Ivica Zubac, and they won’t play him “for a while.”
Utah, on the other hand, traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. and played him immediately. Yes, they rested him in the fourth quarter in the last two games, but they actually won one of them. Both games came down to last-second shots. They were competitive, interesting games, and Jazz fans got a taste of what the team would look like with Jaren Jackson Jr. playing with Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George (before he turned an ankle and had to leave the game). What’s better for fans? Getting to see their new player with their team in a competitive game? Or is it better to not see them at all and get clobbered by 20 points each night?
Obviously, the best answer is neither. But Adam Silver has created this environment that Utah, Indiana, and Brooklyn are in, they’re just doing what’s best for their future. And, from everything I read from fans and the message boards I monitor, fans understand it. If anything, they’re anxious with every game the Jazz win.
But if we’re being honest, the NBA isn’t actually worried about the integrity of the game, and most likely won’t do anything to the Jazz, as long as they do this the way they want them to.
The “Integrity” of the game, Kalshi, and Gambling
As always, you want to understand the motivations for something? Follow the money. You can understand this situation much better in that context, but maybe not the way the NBA wants you to.
The NBA might be saying publicly, through its various preferred media outlets, podcasts, and reporters, that the Jazz are hurting the integrity of the game. But it’s completely vapid, and every Jazz fan and NBA fan knows it. No one cared at all what the Jazz were doing this year until something like this happened. But why?
The answer is the lines, not the integrity of the game.
The reason this bothers so many is that it affects the various gambling sites, which offer so many props and lines based on what happens in these games. Don’t believe me? Why hasn’t the league said anything about what Giannis Antetokounmpo’s recent post after the trade deadline? If you didn’t see it, here it is.
Don’t know what Kalshi is? It’s another gambling site that allows people to gamble on everyday things like the weather, politics, and sports. But why is this bad? Well, you could have gambled on whether Giannis was staying with the Bucks. Before the trade deadline, Giannis had made it clear it was time for him and the Bucks to part ways. Was he creating gambling interest with Kalshi? It certainly looks like it. But does the NBA have anything to say about that? Not a word. On Zach Lowe’s recent pod, where he clutched pearls about the Jazz for ten minutes, he mentioned Kalshi but said he didn’t know what it was (sure). If anything, you could see this as an opportunity for the league to avert attention from something that did not look good. Great work, Adam Silver.
And I get it, gambling sites are a big money maker for the sport and for media, even for this site. But if it gets to the point where players are making decisions like that to affect gambling lines, it’s a big problem. We’ve already seen some of that with players in the alleged gambling scandal earlier this year with Terry Rozier.
Back to Adam Silver.
Adam Silver screwed the Jazz and every other losing franchise
Apparently, in an effort to never let bad teams get better, the NBA flattened lottery rules. Now, I know that’s not why they did it, but that’s what happened. The NBA tried to improve tanking by making the lottery odds flatter, but all it did was give playoff teams a better opportunity to win the lottery. The other side of the coin was that the bad teams had a worse chance. Utah has felt the brunt of this each of the last three seasons, where they haven’t jumped in the lottery once. And it’s not just the Jazz that Adam Silver has screwed over, but all the other bad teams desperate to get cornerstone players in the draft.
So, the bad teams never get better, and only a select few play-in teams have won the lottery. You did this, Adam Silver. You are the one who created this environment. What else are the Jazz supposed to do? The first two seasons after the Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, they did things the “right way.” They won more games than they should have but didn’t win the lottery. Then, last season, to try to up their odds, they still didn’t win, even with the worst record in the league. This season, they have developed the talent they’ve drafted, kept Lauri Markkanen to build with their core, and have now traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. They have been a bottom-ten team all season and have no shot at the play-in. And what do the Jazz get for doing something that undoubtedly helps their team? Two media days of getting blasted when they’ve done nothing different than everyone else. Just a reminder, Brooklyn tanked earlier than Utah. Don’t believe me? They rested Michael Porter Jr. in their first meeting with Utah on December 4th. Utah played its full roster and won. If you’re going to talk about the Jazz doing this earlier than they should, then you’d better talk about the teams like Brooklyn and Washington, who were doing it earlier than the Jazz. But we know that won’t happen because apparently the only thing that matters is the integrity of the gambling lines and the prop bets.
What’s next?
Despite the odds being literally stacked against them, Utah has come up with a way to build its team for a long window of contention. At the trade deadline, they traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. with picks they’ve smartly accumulated during the rebuild. Utah still owns all its own picks and now has another core player for next season.
But it’s time to give the finger to the league, Adam Silver, and the entire sports media that has piled on this week against them. Rest the players, Jazz. Rest all of them. Play the two-way guys, play 10-day contract guys. It’s time for development for the rest of the season for Cody Williams and Ace Bailey. The rest of the lineup can have the opportunity to mend their gastric distress and back spasms. That’s apparently the most acceptable, ethical move in the current NBA Adam Silver has created. Utah just has to adjust to what is allowed.
