The tanking debate has reignited in the NBA. After the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers were fined for sitting healthy players, something deemed to “compromise the integrity” of the game, voices around the league have chimed in. Now, while NBA Commissioner Adam Silver framed the fines as a defense of the league’s foundation, former player Kendrick Perkins believes the punishment barely scratched the surface.

“I wish Adam Silver would have fined them $5 million for disrespecting the game of basketball,” Perkins said on NBA Today. “Like, let’s stop being nice about it and throwing out the word ‘tanking.’ No, it’s actually throwing games. You’re trying to throw games to lose games. Think about that for a second.”

For Perkins, the issue went beyond the potential advantages of draft positioning, seeing tanking as a betrayal of the competition itself. When cohost Malika Andrews pointed out that teams are chasing the prospect of higher draft odds this summer, Perkins doubled down on his take.

The retired NBA player went so far as to question if the upcoming draft class even justified this approach. Referring to top prospect AJ Dybantsa, the former Celtic made it clear that he didn’t see a franchise-altering savior in the mix.

“Is he a Victor [Wembanyama]?” Perkins bluntly asked. “Is he a Cooper Flagg? Is he a Bron? Hell no. Is any of those guys capable of doing something or taking it to that level? I think they’re good starting points.”

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To him, sacrificing any kind of winning basketball culture for uncertain high upside made little sense, and that was reinforced by cohost and three-time champion Danny Green, who claimed that no one wanted “that type of DNA” spilling over into the atmosphere of the team.

Why Kendrick Perkins’ points on tanking, draft odds, and the integrity of the game aren’t taken seriously

The practice of tanking has long been a strategic move in the NBA, a reality many teams have leveraged by sacrificing short-term wins to improve their lottery odds and accelerate rebuilds. The league has attempted to curb this at various points, flattening lottery odds and introducing the play-in tournament to incentivize teams to stay competitive, even if the wins might not matter as much for teams at the bottom of their conferences.

Still, front offices often view the draft as the fastest way to hit relevance, with prospects like Wembanyama and Flagg, who have clear superstar upside, headlining classes, which makes the temptation to bottom out stronger. This season, however, Kendrick Perkins points out that there is no such once-in-a-generation talent, an unpopular opinion, which is why extreme tanking measures, such as the ones undertaken by the Jazz and the Pacers, are harder to justify.

For reference, the Jazz were fined $500,000 for sitting out stars Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen in the fourth quarter of competitive games twice, whereas the Pacers were fined $100,000 for resting Pascal Siakam in violation of the Player Participation Policy. Many disagreed with the penalty, including Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who responded to the fine in a post on X.

“🙄 agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense …” Smith wrote.

The Jazz owe a protected first-round pick in the summer, and if it falls outside the top eight, the team must convey that pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It does give them some incentive to finish lower in a packed Western Conference this season. A team with the league’s fifth-worst record will have a 0.6% chance of dropping in the lottery and receiving the No. 9 pick.

On the other hand, the Pacers are 15-40, second-to-bottom in the East, and with Tyrese Haliburton’s return only expected in the 2026-27 season, they also have enough reason to finish with a lower seed to gear up for a surge next season.

Only time will tell if Silver and the NBA management take more steps to curb tanking, but Perkins clearly wants something much harsher.