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.
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’s injury was, but turned down the chance to talk to team doctors or the player himself.
“There 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’t hold the ball, should have played in a game, which just seemed ridiculous,” Carlisle said. “During the interview process, we asked them if they wanted to talk to our doctors about it, because it’s something that was documented by our doctors and trainers. They said no, they didn’t 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’t 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.”
Rick Carlisle today opening up about the NBA’s $100,000 fine of the #Pacers:
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) February 24, 2026
Full interview here: https://t.co/1rrz1gO1Ja pic.twitter.com/MgjmZFEPsH
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’s circumstances. If that really played into the league’s decision, it’s pretty laughable.
The league gave the Utah Jazz an even bigger fine for tanking, which that organization was also not happy with. They have been tanking pretty openly, but nobody likes getting caught, and the NBA probably should not have to work this hard to collect evidence for their findings.
