Bobby Marks reveals shocking tanking fine admission from anonymous NBA team appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
In just a few days, the NBA will begin the second half of the season, and the majority of the teams are expected to try to firm up their position to earn a much-coveted ticket to the playoffs.
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As for the other squads, well, let the tanking commence.
Tanking has been a persistent issue for the NBA, which affects the integrity of the league. Anytime teams do not play to win, it is the fans who lose.
While there are fines that penalize tanking, ESPN’s Bobby Marks said they are not necessarily a deterrent, as team owners have very deep pockets.
“When you’re a billionaire, you’ll write a blank check for the ability to draft in the top three or top four because those players are transformational and everything,” said Marks on “The Hoop Collective.”
“I had a team text me and said, ‘Listen, what is it? Seven million? Eight million? How much is it going to cost? We’ll pay the fine.’ Now, listen, when you come out and say we’re going to start taking draft picks and we’re going to start taking resources away, now that becomes something else.”
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To wit, Steve Ballmer, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, is among the richest people in the world with a net worth of $140 billion.
Most of his fellow team owners are multi-billionaires, including Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont of the Dallas Mavericks ($40 billion), Robert Pera of the Memphis Grizzlies ($30 billion), and Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers ($26 billion), among others.
Recently, the NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for sitting out healthy players, deeming it “conduct detrimental to the league.”
The Jazz have the third-worst record in the Western Conference, while the Pacers have the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference.
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