Lauri Markkanen

Yesterday at 05:57 PM

Turns out an incredibly inconsequential game between a pair of cellar dwellars in the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards had, well, consequences.

The NBA fined the Jazz $100,000 on Wednesday for violating the league’s player participation policy after they failed to make Lauri Markkanen, who is considered a star player under the policy, available for the team’s game against Washington on March 5 as well as other recent contests.

Markkanen, 27, has been out of the Jazz’s lineup since Feb. 24, missing nine consecutive games in that span. The one-time All-Star was listed as questionable due to low back injury management heading into Utah’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, but has since been activated by the team and will be available to play.

The Jazz are 15-50 so far this season, sitting last place in the Western Conference. They have the second worst record in the NBA and thus have a 14 per cent shot at landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 Draft, or as many are referring to it, the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.