Thunder Have Very Selfish Reason to Stop Other NBA Teams From Tanking This Season

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will lose Utah’s first round pick if the Jazz don’t start winning. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 on Thursday after they sat Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. late in games earlier this week. In colloquial terms, they were fined for tanking, which is especially egregious in early February.

Multiple NBA media members are now saying that it is the Thunder who are putting pressure on the league to curb the tanking this season. Why are the defending NBA champions, who had one of the hottest starts in league history and have an excellent chance to defend their title this spring, concerned with what the dregs of the NBA are up to?

Oklahoma City owns the Jazz's pick if it falls outside the top eight.

The Thunder originally aquired a future first round pick from Utah when they traded for Derrick Favors in the summer of '21. That future first rounder was originally a 2024 pick that was top-10 protected. The Jazz landed the No. 9 pick so it rolled over and became a top-10 protected pick in the '25 draft. The Jazz picked No. 10. Now this season the pick is top-eight protected and the Jazz currently have the sixth-worst record heading into the All-Star break.

On Thursday The Athletic's Tony Jones went on a Utah radio station and said that the Thunder are using backchannels to put pressure on the Jazz to play harder because OKC wants the pick.

On the one hand, can you blame the Thunder. Even if they have selfish motives, everyone wants teams to stop tanking. And sure, it might be a bit hypocritical considering the Thunder themselves are only a few years removed from two straight 20-something win seasons that set up their currently stacked roster.

So anyone who doesn't like the Thunder might consider rooting for the tank just this once.

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