The Utah Jazz have been liberally using the injury report across the roster this season, which until now has happened without consequence.
On Wednesday the NBA announced that the Jazz had been fined $100,000 for violating the league’s player participation policy.
In the press release from the league office, the NBA points to the Jazz not making Lauri Markkanen availble to play on March 5 against the Washington Wizards, “as well as other recent games.”
The league’s player participation policy is an attempt by the league to maintain some integrity of the game while also giving the best product to the fans.
Per the policy, “Unless a team demonstrates an approved reason for a star player not participating in a game, then it must comply with the rules set forth below. Failure to do so will be a violation of this Policy.”
The rules include teams making sure that no more than one star player is sidelined for the same game, teams ensuring that star players are available for games that are on national TV, teams maintaining a balance between home and road games for absences of star players, making sure that resting players who are healthy are still visible to fans, and finally teams not shutting down players long term in a way that impacts the integrity of the game.
Markkanen had not played in the last nine Jazz games. Shortly after the NBA’s announcement on Wednesday, the Jazz announced that Markkanen would be available to play Wednesday night against the Grizzlies in Memphis.
