While others face fines, the Wizards navigate the NBA's tanking crackdown. Their recent moves signal a shift, but does it mean immunity?
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver thinks of tanking in the NBA has become an issue worth addressing. Just days before the NBA's All-Star Weekend, the league fined the Utah Jazz $500,00 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for what league officials described as "conduct detrimental to the league."
Despite criticism from some, the Wizards avoided any punishment from the league...for now. It's not clear whether or not more teams will receive fines, but Silver made it clear the league is closely examining the way teams operate.
Moreover, Silver said that the league is considering all possible remedies to prevent this type of behavior going forward. For the Wizards. they're in their third and what looks to be final year of bottoming out, which has been a clear mold for rebuilding teams in the last decade.
At the trade deadline, Washington acquired two once premiere NBA talents in Trae Young and Anthony Davis. However, both players had injuries at the time. Davis is out with a hand-injury and he flew back to Dallas to visit with his doctors, according to general manager Will Dawkins.
Young has sat out with a right MCL sprain and a quad contusion. The team said they planned on reevaluating both players during the recent break, so an update is expected soon.
Many see the Wizards' deadline moves as acquire and stash. Dawkins has pushed back on the notion. Last week, he told The Sports Junkies, a local Washington D.C. radio show, he think it's "highly likely" the duo sees the floor this season.
Washington's choice to trade for these players accomplished a few things. One, it signals the team plans to enter a more competitive state next season. Also, it allows the team to prioritize playing its young players for the remainder of the season.
Since trading CJ McCollum, Khris Middleton, Corey Kispert and Marvin Bagley III, it's opened the runway for more minutes from Will Riley, Tre Johnson, Sharife Cooper, and Tristan Vukcevic. Still, the league has concerns overall regarding tanking.
“It’s time to take a fresh look at this and to see whether that’s an antiquated way of going about doing it,” Silver said at All-Star Weekend.
Despite rumors circulating that the league could do away with the rookie draft completely, the league officials did not discuss that, according to The Athletic's Joe Vardon.
Washington's draft choice is top-8 protected, meaning a bottom-four finish guarantees it will have a pick in this draft. However, Dawkins told Kevin Sheehan the organization is more focused on the development of its players than the pick.
Still, Silver sees tanking as a worse issue than years past. Do he and the league see Washington's process as less egregious than Utah and Indiana's? As of now, it seems like the answer is yes.
The Wizards return from the All-Star break on Thursday with a back-to-back against the aforementioned Indiana Pacers.