Ryan Smith is not at all happy about having to cut a sizable six-figure check to the league.
The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 by the NBA on Thursday. In an official release, the league said that the Jazz improperly sat out star players Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the entire fourth quarter of successive games against the Orlando Magic on Feb. 7 and against the Miami Heat on Feb. 9.
The NBA noted in their announcement that Markkanen and Jackson were “otherwise able to continue to play.” In the same release, the league also announced a $100,000 fine for another tanking NBA team over a separate violation (read the full details here).
Late on Thursday night, the Jazz owner Smith spoke out against the $500,000 punishment for his team.
“agree to disagree,” wrote Smith on X. “Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense.”
agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense … https://t.co/sHQrggB2Xa
— Ryan Smith (@RyanQualtrics) February 13, 2026
Smith is correct that the Jazz went on to win that Feb. 9 game against the Heat by a 115-111 final score. But the result alone does not necessarily mean that Utah was not actively attempting to lose that game.
The 47-year-old Smith, co-founder and executive chairman of Qualtrics, purchased a majority stake of the Jazz back in 2020. But ever since then, Utah has produced more 50-loss seasons (three) than playoff series victories (one). The Jazz also went a woeful 17-65 last season and have not been a whole lot better this season at 18-37.
Of course, it is always possible (as the NBA seems to suspect) that Utah is intentionally trying to lose games in an effort to improve their draft lottery odds. After all, this is not the only tanking accusation that the Jazz have faced just this week alone.
