Though it was once seen as a sure-fire bet that the OKC Thunder would land not one, but two lottery picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, recent happenings suggest that this might not be as much of a guarantee as previously believed.
Despite being just two wins behind the Portland Trail Blazers for a top 10 seed in the Western Conference standings, the Utah Jazz, whose protected first-rounder for next June's draft is owned by Oklahoma City, are now blatantly tanking.
That is, at least, according to Desert News' Sarah Todd.
During a recent appearance on The Athletic NBA Daily, the beat reporter revealed her suspicion that Utah's front office is "pretty committed" to gunning for a "fourth-worst, or worse" finish on the year in an effort to hold onto their draft rights, and a telltale sign of this is the fact that they're now actively holding out star forward Lauri Markkanen from games.
"Last night was kind of one of the first indications [that the Jazz are tanking]. Lauri out with what was called 'groin injury management,' and I'm surprised to hear that he's managing a groin injury that did not exist before yesterday," Todd said.
Jazz believed to be tanking in effort to avoid giving Thunder draft pick
As a result of the Derrick Favors salary-dump trade before the start of the 2021-22 season, the Jazz will be forced to send the Thunder their first-round pick in this year's draft should it fall outside of a top-eight selection.
Their current pace simply won't cut it for their chances of keeping the rights to their pick, for, as Todd noted, 10 wins in December is "crazy if you're trying to tank."
Fortunately for Jazz fans -- and, frankly, the rest of the league --, the belief that Utah will be tanking from here on out only appears to be growing stronger by the day, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal recently confirmed that the club's "primary focus" is to keep their 2026 draft pick.
He would even indicate that current role players such as Kyle Anderson, Jusuf Nurkic, Kevin Love, and Georges Niang should all be viewed as potential trade candidates ahead of the February 5 deadline.
At 10-18, if the season were to end today, the Jazz would finish with the eighth-worst record in the league.
Of course, as we've seen over the years, where a team finishes in the standings doesn't automatically mean they'll be rewarded with their position on the draft board, meaning that if they wish to get a better chance of keeping their pick, aiming for a bottom-four finish, as Todd suggested, is likely their best plan of action.