Following multiple complaints that teams have been blatantly tanking over the last few weeks, the NBA responded by issuing fines to the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers. An NBA insider believes those punishments came in response to commissioner Adam Silver receiving pressure from gambling companies.

Interest in NBA gambling has increased exponentially over the last few years, with thousands of dollars wagered on each game. However, if teams are not disclosing unorthodox game plans to betting companies, it is difficult for betting sites to set accurate lines, which can cause a disturbance in the industry, NBA insider Ben Golliver speculated.

“I think one key aspect to this with Utah — if you're not playing guys in the fourth quarter, how many bets is that impacting?” Golliver said on the ‘Greatest of all Talk' podcast. “We know how much the NBA has gotten in bed with gambling. Over-unders are at stake, player props are at stake. If coaches are just willy nilly, not playing guys the entire game, and they're not letting people know in advance that they plan to do that, you're gonna have a lot of angry gamblers and a lot of angry gambling companies.”

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The NBA has been actively combating tanking for years, but the issue has never been as blatant as it was for the Jazz and Pacers at the end of the 2025-2026 season. Utah received heavy criticism for sitting star players Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic for the entire fourth quarter at the end of multiple games before the fines.

As the sports betting industry continues to grow, all professional leagues are working to maintain strong relationships with gambling companies. The NBA has already dealt with multiple high-scale gambling scandals in the last three years and will do everything it can to avoid going down that path again.