SALT LAKE CITY – In an appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Today,” Bobby Marks, a former Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager and current network analyst, placed the blame for the league’s tanking problem squarely on the Utah Jazz.

Marks criticized the Jazz for resting Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter against the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat after building third‑quarter leads.

Utah surrendered a seven‑point lead over the final 12 minutes in the loss to Orlando with both stars on the bench, then beat Miami 115-111 to close a five‑game road trip.

Sorry, Bobby Marks, but the Jazz Aren’t Responsible for Maintaining the NBA’s Integrity

During his appearance, Marks said, “I think what Utah is doing right now is messing around with the integrity of the NBA,” leveling an aggressive critique of the franchise.

Sorry, Bobby, but that’s insane.

Let’s be clear: The Jazz are tanking.

To give themselves the best chance of keeping this year’s top‑eight protected first‑round pick, the Jazz need to lose as many games as possible to close the season.

Bobby Marks:

“I think what Utah is doing right now is messing around with the integrity of the NBA” pic.twitter.com/7KBRrt2Auq

— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) February 10, 2026

If Utah, which currently holds the league’s sixth‑worst record, can fall to fourth or worse, it would guarantee the team keeps the pick regardless of the NBA draft lottery results in May.

Truthfully, that scenario is unlikely.

With nearly one‑third of the league tanking after last week’s trade deadline, the Jazz face long odds of making up ground in the lottery standings, though they can avoid damaging their chances.

But let’s start there.

This season, at least nine of the 30 NBA teams have taken steps to improve their draft odds—either through sitting players or by moving them at the deadline.

That list includes the Jazz, Kings, Pacers, Wizards, Nets, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Bucks, and Bulls.

So why are the Jazz at the center of Marks’ criticism?

Is it because they created a new form of tanking by resting their best players late in close games?

Try again.

The Jazz are hardly the first team to use this tactic, and they won’t be the last.

The Toronto Raptors regularly did this a season ago, as did the Brooklyn Nets—including in a matchup with Utah.

There seem to be this narrative that the Jazz have invented a new style of tanking by resting starters in the 4th.

I was at this Jazz/Nets game last year.

Ben Simmons hit a hook shot in OT to make it a one point game and Jordi Fernandez yanked him.

This is not new. pic.twitter.com/jx16TYiG5I

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) February 11, 2026

Is it because the Jazz acquired players at the deadline, yet aren’t maximizing their new star’s playing time?

Not so fast.

The Pacers acquired veteran Ivica Zubac at the deadline and then kept him out with a vague ankle sprain, despite him being healthy for 15 of his final 16 Clippers games before the deadline.

Last season, the Raptors acquired All‑Star Brandon Ingram midseason, but he never played for their tanking roster, citing a December ankle sprain.

That must have been one of the worst ankle sprains in league history.

Is Marks frustrated because the Jazz are repeat offenders, stretching this rebuild into a fourth season before adding Jackson Jr.?

Zoom out, and you won’t find a franchise in NBA history that hasn’t tanked in some form to improve long‑term.

On this day, 18 years ago, the Spurs drafted Tim Duncan with the No. 1 pick in the 1997 @NBA Draft pic.twitter.com/awpw1RWSVj

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) June 25, 2015

The NBA created the draft lottery specifically because rampant tanking plagued the league in the early 1980s.

Even the San Antonio Spurs, one of basketball’s most respected franchises, tanked in 1996‑97 to draft Tim Duncan. They did it again in 2022‑23 to land Victor Wembanyama.

The Golden State Warriors—by admission of former assistant GM Travis Schlenk—manipulated losses in 2012 to keep a top‑seven protected pick that otherwise would have gone to Utah. They later drafted Harrison Barnes.

Marks must be upset because the Jazz are closing games with players who won’t be part of the franchise’s future, rather than core pieces like Markkanen and Jackson Jr.

Errr, maybe not.

Coach Will Hardy hasn’t scraped the bottom of the bench to lose games. He’s playing two lottery picks, Ace Bailey and Cody Williams; two other first‑rounders, Isaiah Collier and Brice Sensabaugh; and second‑year big Kyle Filipowski, who has logged the fourth‑most minutes on the roster this season.

Don’t forget, that young group outscored Miami 30-29 in the fourth quarter on Monday.

If that’s not it, maybe the issue is the Jazz’s clandestine approach—starting certain players for optics, then sitting them late.

Wrong again.

I asked Hardy whether he feels responsible for maintaining the NBA’s sanctity by playing to win at all costs. He didn’t hide the team’s motivations.

The players that are playing in the games are competing every night. We have a young team, and we’re trying to develop them, we’re trying to learn about them as well.

“It’s not just about development. We’re trying to identify the players in our program that we really believe in. And so I don’t know if it’s about maintaining any type of sanctity, but there’s definitely a feeling for me, like I’m proud of how our team goes about it every day.

“I think that our guys go out there and lay on the line every night, and I know that our coaching staff coaches these guys hard. You know, developing young players is hard because this league is very unforgiving. So the results can, you know, elicit some emotional responses from people, which I understand.”

So is Marks accusing the Jazz of breaking rules?

Here’s the real problem—they aren’t.

The NBA’s Board of Governors approved the Player Participation Policy in 2023 to reduce load management and give fans more chances to see stars.

Nowhere does the policy prohibit resting players in key moments of games.

Could the league add such a rule? Sure. But it isn’t in place for the 2025‑26 season. So what exactly are the Jazz doing wrong?

Tanking stinks, but the Jazz aren’t to blame

Tanking undermines the league. Teams choosing to lose runs counter to elite competition, and fans—who pay ever‑rising prices—suffer most.

But claiming the Jazz are “messing around with the integrity of the NBA” is absurd and, frankly, reckless.

Marks, whose NBA coverage is otherwise strong, knows better than to pin the league’s tanking issue on one franchise.

Bam Adebayo: “We’ve got to find a way to win against teams that are, I guess you can say, trying to lose.”

— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) February 10, 2026

Don’t forget former Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups is under FBI investigation for allegedly sharing private injury details with gamblers during a tanking season.

It’s true, the Jazz aren’t prioritizing wins right now, but their biggest sin over the last two games has been choosing to develop young draft picks during clutch moments, rather than picking up wins that hurt their future.

Marks doesn’t have to like the strategy. But with the NBA’s long, blatant history with tanking, only one person’s integrity should be questioned after his accusations on “NBA Today”—and it isn’t the Jazz’s.