{"id":602160,"date":"2026-02-14T05:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602160\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T05:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:13:17","slug":"ex-jazz-star-calls-out-utah-fans-amid-billionaire-owners-public-clash-over500k-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602160\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Jazz Star Calls Out Utah Fans Amid Billionaire Owner’s Public Clash Over$500K Fine"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA commissioner Adam Silver dropped a shocker on Thursday as the league announced sanctions on two teams related to the management of their roster over the last few games. The Utah Jazz in the West were slapped with a $500k fine, while the Indiana Pacers in the East were handed a $100k sanction. Utah\u2019s billionaire owner, Ryan Smith, along with a majority of the team\u2019s fanbase, were not happy with the decision and took to social media to express their dissatisfaction. But this behavior does not seem to make sense to former Jazz man, Kyle Anderson.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old veteran was recently traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in a deal that saw Jaren Jackson Jr. move in the opposite direction. Following last evening\u2019s league decision due to \u2018overt\u2019 tanking claims, Jazz fans took to social media to express their disgust at the NBA\u2019s inconsistent policy implementation.<\/p>\n

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However, Anderson called out those fans on his Instagram as he offered his two cents on the whole saga.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a dog in the fight and promise I\u2019m not being petty\u2026.I got to say, the Jazz fan accounts that are so pro-tanking and call it out damn near every game for a good laugh are so pissed about the fine that was given out. How are you mad for knowing it\u2019s wrong, getting caught, and there being repercussions?\u201d he posted on his story yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you be mad at OKC FO for *allegedly* going to the league to say something? Yes, they are actually trying to get that pick and not allow a team with a good roster in their division get that pick pick? Lol,\u201d Anderson added.<\/p>\n

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Some Jazz fans also called out Anderson\u2019s \u2018hypocrisy\u2019 for using the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> as an example in his counter-argument. They claim that over the last decade, OKC has been investigated multiple times for behaviour that appears to be tanking or load management. But they\u2019ve never been handed any official sanctions, yet.<\/p>\n

Have the Thunder Been Fined for \u2018Tanking\u2019 by the NBA?<\/p>\n

There might be some truth to what these fans are claiming. However, OKC has never been officially sanctioned by the league \u2013 not in the last decade or the time before that. In fact, the last team to be sanctioned by the league for similar behavior before Utah and the Pacers was the 2023 Dallas Mavericks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mavs were fined $750k after resting multiple healthy rotation players (including Kyrie Irving) and pulling Luka Doncic in a must-lose game late in the 2022-23 season against the Chicago Bulls. The league claimed that Dallas showed \u201ca desire to lose\u201d as they fell to a 115-112 defeat in that game.<\/p>\n

\"Oct<\/p>\n

Oct 21, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) keeps the ball away from Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Coming back to the Thunder, they have been the subject of league investigations in recent years. In March 2025, Thunder sat all five starters (Shai Gilgeous\u2011Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein) in a home game against a lottery-bound Portland Trail Blazers team.<\/p>\n

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The NBA opened a probe into a possible Player Participation Policy violation, as rules state that you cannot exclude more than one \u201cstar player\u201d and must play top performers in national TV games. But no fines were handed out at the conclusion of those investigations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA commissioner Adam Silver dropped a shocker on Thursday as the league announced sanctions on two teams related…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[2214,7,6675,366,329,149,164,194,126,949,364,496,423,938,2870,967,368,4164,177,6,378,475,471,209,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-602160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-adam-silver","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-chase-center","11":"tag-chet-holmgren","12":"tag-chicago-bulls","13":"tag-dallas-mavericks","14":"tag-golden-state-warriors","15":"tag-houston-rockets","16":"tag-indiana-pacers","17":"tag-isaiah-hartenstein","18":"tag-jalen-williams","19":"tag-jaren-jackson-jr","20":"tag-jazz","21":"tag-kevin-durant","22":"tag-kyle-anderson","23":"tag-kyrie-irving","24":"tag-luka-doncic","25":"tag-mandatory-credit","26":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","27":"tag-nba","28":"tag-okc","29":"tag-oklahoma-city","30":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","31":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","32":"tag-utah","33":"tag-utah-jazz","34":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116067277307656471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}