Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle opened up about the tanking fine his team received, and revealed that the NBA asked some ridiculous questions as part of its investigation.<\/p>\n
Carlisle claimed the league pressed the Pacers on why they did not make guard Aaron Nesmith play hurt in a meaningless game before fining the team $100,000 for tanking. He also suggested that the league questioned how genuine Nesmith\u2019s injury was, but turned down the chance to talk to team doctors or the player himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a league lawyer that was doing the interview that kind of unilaterally decided that Aaron Nesmith, who had been injured the night before, couldn\u2019t hold the ball, should have played in a game, which just seemed ridiculous,\u201d Carlisle said. \u201cDuring the interview process, we asked them if they wanted to talk to our doctors about it, because it\u2019s something that was documented by our doctors and trainers. They said no, they didn\u2019t need to, they talked to their doctors who did not examine Aaron Nesmith. We asked them if they wanted to talk to the kid, and they said no, they didn\u2019t need to. During the interview, they also asked if we considered him medicating him to play in a game when we were 30 games under .500.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rick Carlisle today opening up about the NBA\u2019s $100,000 fine of the #Pacers<\/a>:<\/p>\n Full interview here: https:\/\/t.co\/1rrz1gO1Ja<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/MgjmZFEPsH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n The NBA has a right to look into potential tanking, but they should not be surprised at a team holding out an injured player under Nesmith\u2019s circumstances. If that really played into the league\u2019s decision, it\u2019s pretty laughable.<\/p>\n The league gave the Utah Jazz an even bigger fine for tanking, which that organization was also not happy with<\/a>. They have been tanking pretty openly<\/a>, but nobody likes getting caught, and the NBA probably should not have to work this hard to collect evidence for their findings.<\/p>\n