As we have reached the All-Star break, the noise for another epidemic across the NBA — tanking — has only continued to grow louder, so much so that the league provided two slap-on-the-wrist fines to the Utah Jazz ($500K) and Indiana Pacers ($100K) for their recent player participation management.
The Jazz’s efforts were far more obvious, resting Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen and Jusuf Nurkic in the fourth quarter in an effort to lose and help maintain premium draft lottery odds as the offseason nears.
That measure occurred in two games. Though one of them wasn’t actually a loss. They won — 115-111 — against the Miami Heat.
“The Utah Jazz organization has been fined $500,000 for conduct detrimental to the league related to the team’s games against the Orlando Magic on Feb. 7 and the Miami Heat on Feb. 9,” the league wrote in a press release. “During those games, the Jazz removed two of the team’s top players, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson, Jr., before the beginning of the fourth quarter and did not return them to the game, even though these players were otherwise able to continue to play and the outcomes of the games were thereafter in doubt.”
Miami’s loss to Utah came on the second night of a back-to-back; the Heat crushed the Washington Wizards, 132-101, the day prior. That didn’t make their loss any less embarrassing, either.
The whole world knows the Jazz’s intentions, though reading the league’s press release where it says “the Miami Heat on Feb. 9” in fine print makes it sting that much more. It’s also a direct indication of where the Heat are as a franchise; they can beat, and lose to, pretty much any team on any given night, the ultimate sign of mediocrity.
Miami enters the All-Star break at 29-27. They are still without a clear direction, which is concerning, to say the least. The league must address the tanking crisis; it must put real effort in — no half-measures. Though I think that, no matter the solution, there will be unintended consequences that will still lead teams, like the Jazz, to find ways to tank with aim to acquire talent.
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On October 23, 2025, the FBI arrested Miami Heat guard Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups as part of a sports betting investigation. As a result, both figures faced league suspensions. Rozier, however, quickly dismissed the allegations, determined to fight off any charges against him.
Amid all this turmoil, he also faced a salary dispute that grabbed the spotlight. Fortunately for Rozier, reports revealed he won in that battle, securing his full $26.6 million salary for the season after an arbitrator ruled he could not be placed on unpaid leave. In a surprising turn, investigators recently uncovered a concerning text on Rozier’s phone related to the betting probe—news that could potentially change everything.
“Wachtell did not find enough for the NBA to suspend Rozier, a bad look for the NBA in October when federal prosecutors charged Rozier with doing the very thing for which he was investigated by Ander’s team. Wachtell lawyers had access to Rozier and his phone and found that he texted someone that he would come out of a game, according to multiple people briefed on the investigations, but they could not compel others outside the NBA to participate in the investigation. Federal prosecutors had no such restriction.” Via The Athletic.
If Riley isn’t suing Adam Silver, the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets over this fiasco, he is not doing his job and needs to go!!!
Kel’el Ware on being put in trade rumors and asked if he hoped he would stay in Miami:
“Just control what I can control. Go out there and play. If it happens it happens. If not I’m just going to continue to play. Yeah I feel like anybody would hope to stay with their current team”
Norman Powell is hoping his time in Miami doesn’t end after this season.
“Hopefully there’s some good synergy from what they’ve seen that I bring to the table,” Powell said. “And hopefully a deal is able to be done sometime. But yeah, I see myself being here and being a part of the Heat organization for however long they’ll have me.”
“This is definitely a place that I want to be,” Powell said. “It’s been nothing but great. Coming here getting adjusted, the organization has been amazing. I love where I’m at. I love the setup. I love the mentality. I love the approach. It has been, honestly, a super easy transition because I feel like everybody in the organization has the same mentality I have of pushing yourself to achieve the best and be the best version of yourself. It’s been fun.”
Erik Spoelstra says “just wait” until the Heat get their guys back
“When we get our guys back, I think we’re going to be a really dangerous offensive team”
As Kasparas Jakucionis continues to emerge for the Miami Heat, it could open the door to cutting ties with both Norman Powell and Tyler Herro this summer. As unlikely as it may sound, it could emerge as an option that the Heat’s front office may strongly consider.
Over his last six games, Jakucionis is averaging 11 points and five assists on 51 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent shooting from 3-point range. He’s filled in nicely for both Herro and Powell, who have been in and out with injuries all season long.
Miami’s youth movement:
Note: The four players 30+ represent over $83M+ in salaries in 2025-2026.
Is Tyler Herro the Miami Heat’s new “quiet quitter?”
Is Pat Riley not wired for today’s NBA? Here’s a couple of paragraph of an article on Riley in allucanheat:
I can understand why Miami was unable to land a whale prior to the trade deadline. Nobody was selling for a price Miami was willing to pay. However, what I absolutely cannot understand is why Riley didn’t have one or more back-up plans in place to improve the team, to the extent possible and why he didn’t do whatever was possible to upgrade the front court with a half-decent PF/C to share the burden with Bam and Ware? Was his plan all along to force-feed Jovic to Miami fans? If it was, it hasn’t worked. His fallback position obviously wasn’t Vlad Goldin. That poor guy hasn’t seen many minutes at all, even during “garbage time.”
Do Riley’s recent actions demonstrate he is losing his touch and that his decision-making ability has become questionable? These actions include his:
Questions
utah has an excess of large mostly white men.for riley not to pluck a large vanilla milk shake is so frustrating
Yup. Pelicans have depth too. He probably decided if he can’t steal one he doesn’t want one
Riley has a similar predilection. And the reason I focus on it is because the great majority of his errors are in this area. People like to sweep it under the rug but it’s always the elephant in the room. Ask fans about the Heat from another city. Listen to the pundits on espn when they speak of the Heat in coded terms.
I haven’t seen anybody sweeping anything under the rug. I’ve just seen people give different points of view. If I lump Jaquez in with ‘that group’, he and Pelle are solid players for this or any team. Simone can give you really good minutes some days and be terrible others. Matt, who wrote this article and many others, wrote that Kas offers tantalizing potential on both ends. At pick 20, it seems like a pretty solid choice. I had 2 or 3 others in that slot, but we’ll see. Jovic has been a disaster this season. Herro has been, literally, a non starter.
if nyk dont win it all greeks going to ny next year .thats my guess.
Riley and Heat fans need to move on from Greek There are other fish in the pond. Some of them are coming up on player options
He won’t be coming here.
riley should retire give the job to u .from one cool looking guy to another.
You’re making me blush. Actually, I might consider it if I was free to telecommute from San Diego and not be required to travel. Everything done by video.I work cheap..
if mickey arison ever saw your articles posted on here pat riley would at least have an assistant hes not gonna ever fire his bf.although theres only so many niko and rozier contracts an owner can take
herro quiet quitter lol
Riley had an opening for one. It worked so well for the last one, he thought he would give it a try.
quitters should be able to play d though no?
Or just play period
It may work out similarly with Riley giving the same availability speech when the contract finally has to be dealt with.
i didnt think we were getting greek but i thought we were getting ja wtf happened there.he said hed like to play here bought house here wtf
Didn’t even have to get giannis I would of been happy with ja and demar with a buyout big.
exactly ja demar and one of utahs excess big men which was very doable would have drawn us almost even with the big 4.riley is becoming the niko of gms unfort.father time has gotten him.
Riley definitely asleep at the wheel
I’ve already come to that conclusion. I came early, probably before most thought it justified. But, I have always been able to see into behavior and evaluate it before others. I also have a masters in a psychology related field even though it was a second degree that never used in my career. I believe you are asking all the right questions here.
tanking they wont the fn game if anything fine pat for giving niko 64 mil.and for dumbot playing niko.
Thats hillarious.
Miami should be fined.
After decades of full time tanking, something camouflages into “process” or bullshit like that, they fine because two players not playing the fourth for a team, which won the game.
How NBA as an organisation can judge who is top player or who is not? And who should play or who shouldn’t?
Miami should definitely be fined after that loss to an actively tanking team. I agree with everything you said btw. Also tanking will continue to happen cuz teams like jazz will always try to find new ways or loopholes to tank. Silver needs to take his bald head out of his arse and get rid of the lottery system, but he’s too stupid for that. The NBA is the only sport that a does a lottery draft system, so being an oddball isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Exactly, there shouldn’t be a prize for tanking team, that all.
But it wont happen. It seems to me sometimes the trades and draft is more important then basketball itself.
the drafting of d wade was fairly important.the announcement of lebron fairly important.ray allens shot fairly important.jimmys miss kind of important.both are important thats true in all sports
The lottery needs to be changed, not eliminated. If totally eliminated, it will have exactly the result you don’t want – that a team that purposely tanks, like Utah would get the #1 pick. They should change it so that the worst 14 teams all get the same # of ping pong balls. That way, all 14 teams would have an equal chance to get the top pick. Losing on purpose would have no advantage whatsoever.
I have two modifications to your plan.
I would give the 10 teams that did not make the play-in round one ping pong ball each and let them be eligible for the #1 – #10 picks.
I would also give the 4 teams that made the play-in round, but did not make the playoffs, one ping pong ball each and let them be eligible for picks #11-#14.
i need to see the ping pong balls live not just flip a cardboard over and the ping pong bs not done behind closed doors.that wemby to spurs was skechy.wemby should be on charl wash pelicans sorry ars teams like that
That’s the way the ping pong ball bounces man
Conspiracy theories. But bias really. About air conditioning. You didn’t say anything about Dallas getting Flagg, who by the way should have been ours. But 4 more games were great to have as long as you love to see your team totally humiliated. Several of us said it’d be better to get into the lottery because we had zero chance of making any noise in the playoffs.
1% chance dallas had getting ding dong ball.sht i believe it is rigged the martian determines who he wants to get #1 pick.show me the ding dong balls live .how else does pop end up with wemby come on rc.wemby hsould be on charl wash fk the spurs fk dallas.im a big wash charl fan thats 4 guaranteed wins a vear for the last two decades
Nah. Silly and paranoid. You do realize that some people win the Powerball against astronomical odds, right? And some people that win the lottery are already rich, which really stinks. And some people actually have won the lottery more than one time against also astronomical odds. I don’t believe in bullshit conspiracy theories, except perhaps for JFK assassination, which I think the mafia was behind.
With just 14 balls the spins would be less complex. No advantage for finishing worst team in the league. Each team gets one ball. It would take less time and could be aired live!
Maybe you, Sunman, and everyone else has good ideas, but silver won’t do anything except fines.
Sad, but true
Charlotte, Silver and the NBA should be sued. He failed to disclose “the ghost in Rozier’s closet” to Miami before approving his trade. As a result, Miami is now stuck with paying Rozier to stay home (by order of Adam Silver) and losing its 2027 first round pick in a trade approved by Silver. That’s some f’d up s***!!!
Regardless whether Rozier is found innocent or guilty, Miami is the injured party, not Rozier, Charlotte, Silver or the NBA. If Riley hasn’t already initiated legal action to rectify the situation, he should be forced to retire…PERIOD!!!
I agree. The Heat’s remaining schedule still has about fifteen potential tankers on it. Beating teams that have no chance to make the playoffs should be taken with a grain of salt. Beating play in teams or better are the only gauge that matters. The wins piled up against the Pelicans et al won’t help when we play in the tournament. There is sort of a regular division and a relegated division in the nba right now.
3 players. Nurkic, Jackson and Markkanen.
How can the NBA withhold relevant information about a player (Rozier) being investigated by the FBI for alleged criminal gambling activities, before approving the trade of that player to an unsuspecting team (Miami)?
What is the penalty for such gross abuse of authority, mismanagement and incompetence?
At the very minimum, Miami should have it’s 2027 1st round pick returned and be reimbursed for the time Rozier has been out due to his injuries in 2024-2025 and his NBA suspension in 2025-2026.
Its 21th century. For some everything is allowed, for others nothing.
silver is the trump of nba.dont mess with the martian
Miami should sue his ass and Charlotte to recoup $, pick plus damages for pain and suffering of fans
Neither one is infallible, just like all of us.