Tanking has become a bit of an epidemic in the NBA. The practice of tanking has been around for a very long time, but it has reached a new level this season. Consequently, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has taken notice and handed out punishments. The Indiana Pacers were one of the teams to receive a serious fine for supposedly tanking, which hasn’t sat well with their head coach Rick Carlisle.
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No matter how hard the NBA has tried, tanking has always been a thing. Earlier in Silver’s tenure as commissioner, he tried to combat tanking by flattening the draft lottery odds of the worst teams. That method has been somewhat effective as the worst team in the NBA hasn’t received the top-overall since the league flattened the odds in 2019.
Regardless, teams continue to try to lose games with the hope that they’ll land a top overall pick. The means of losing have drastically changed over the years. Teams are no longer load managing their players. They are sitting key contributors out due to suspicious injuries.
The Utah Jazz are the most notorious for this tactic. They played key players such as Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for three quarters before benching them in the final period of a close game. The only logical reason is that they were purposely trying to lower their chances of winning the game. As a result, the league fined the Jazz $500,000.
The Pacers also received a $100,000 fine for sidelining Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith since the league determined that they were capable of playing. Unlike Jazz head coach Will Hardy, who remained relatively silent, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle called out the NBA for their decision.
“I didn’t agree with it,” Carlisle told 107.5 The Fan. “There was a league lawyer who was doing the interview who unilaterally decided that Aaron Nesmith, who had been injured the night before and couldn’t hold the ball, should have played in the game, which just seems ridiculous.”
Rick Carlisle today opening up about the NBA’s $100,000 fine of the #Pacers:
Full interview here: https://t.co/1rrz1gO1Ja pic.twitter.com/MgjmZFEPsH
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) February 24, 2026
Carlisle didn’t understand the league’s decision-making process whatsoever, especially considering the lack of physical examinations from the NBA’s doctors.
“We asked them if they wanted to talk to the doctors, our doctors, about it, because it’s something that was documented by our doctors and trainers. Uh, they said no, they didn’t need to. They talked to their (league) doctors, who did not examine Aaron Nesmith, and we asked them if they wanted to talk to the kid, and they said no, they didn’t need to. So this was shocking,” Carlisle proclaimed.
It seems that teams aren’t liking the way the NBA is cracking down on tanking. There needs to be consistent conversation between teams and the league in matters such as this. If there isn’t, there may be more situations that may be a misunderstanding. Carlisle certainly believes that to be the case but that won’t lead to the NBA rescinding their $100,000 fine.
The harsh truth for the Pacers is that injuries have decimated their roster. Regardless, the NBA chose them as the team to make an example out of. Only time will tell whether this evokes the fear Silver was hoping for in the rest of the league.
