There were questions about whether the Memphis Grizzlies would tank the season away, after they fell out of playoff contention and in light of Ja Morant’s absences and the trade of Jaren Jackson Jr.

There still are.

There’s not much debate about what the Utah Jazz are doing, however. They’ve been blatant about resting key players in fourth quarters in an apparent effort to secure losses, though that has backfired at times, such as when they sat Lauri Markkanen and Jackson Jr. for most of the third and all of the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat on Monday — and won anyway.

When I asked Jazz coach Will Hardy after whether he was thinking of putting either back in, he quickly, defiantly, dismissively said, “I wasn’t.”

Asked Jazz coach Will Hardy how close he was to putting Lauri Markkanen or Jaren Jackson Jr. in the game in the fourth quarter.

“I wasn’t.” pic.twitter.com/bZcEkCo8WA

— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) February 10, 2026

Well, now it appears he won’t be putting Jackson Jr. in again at all this season.

The skilled center, who was acquired from Memphis prior to the trade deadline for a package that included three first-round picks, is out indefinitely due to knee surgery, in what was described by reporter Chris Haynes as a means of improving his long-term health in the joint. Haynes said that Jackson Jr. is “likely to miss the remainder of the season.”

He said “a localized PVNS growth was discovered post-trade.” That’s otherwise known as a benign tumor.

BREAKING: Utah Jazz star Jaren Jackson Jr. is likely to miss the remainder of the season to undergo surgery on his left knee to ensure his longterm health after a localized PVNS growth was discovered post trade, league sources tell me. pic.twitter.com/pHeJT8NphE

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 12, 2026

In normal situations, this might have compelled the Jazz to challenge the trade; teams do that all the time when players’ ailments are discovered upon a post-trade physical or even right after. But in this case, that’s highly unlikely since it would seem to serve the Jazz’s purposes for Jackson Jr. to sit.

He’s good. He somehow scored 23 points in 22 minutes with this condition in his final game before the surgery was announced. Actually, he set a record for his production in 26 minutes or less per game in his first three starts with his new team. The Jazz seemingly tried to limit his production by limiting his time on the floor — he didn’t play a single fourth quarter minute for them — and it didn’t work.

He still produced. And the Jazz won two of three games.

Jaren Jackson Jr. is the only player in NBA history to score 20+ points in each of his first three games with an NBA team while also playing no more than 26 minutes in any of those games. pic.twitter.com/KU4YEodTk8

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) February 12, 2026

So yes, he’s good — in fact, he was better in Utah than he had been in Memphis for much of this season.

And the Jazz don’t want to be good, not now.

Their draft pick is top-8 protected; otherwise it goes to Oklahoma City.

Their incentive is all in favor of losing.

Would the Grizzlies have gone this far? They also are trying to get as high in the lottery as possible, even if they keep their own pick either way. We will never know now. Just as no one might have ever known of Jackson, Jr.’s condition.