As the tanking debate rages across the NBA, Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle is clapping back.
Carlisle criticized the $100,000 fine levied against his team for holding out three starters, including Aaron Nesmith, in a game earlier in February on Tuesday.
“I didn’t agree with it,” he told 107.5 The Fan. “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 and couldn’t hold the ball, should have played in the game, which just seems ridiculous.”
Carlisle added that the Pacers offered the NBA to talk to their team doctors, but the league declined.
“This was shocking to me. And during the interview, they also asked if we considered medicating him to play in a game when we were 30 games under .500. So I was very surprised. You know, obviously, didn’t agree with it. This is really the first time I’ve gone into any detail about it. But that was the deal,” Carlisle said.
The Utah Jazz were docked $500,000 the same day as the Pacers for using similar tactics, which team owner Ryan Smith also publicly disagreed with.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement after the fines that the competition committee and team owners will work “to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”
“Overt behaviour like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” Silver said in the statement.
A number of teams, including the Jazz and Pacers, would seem to have a great interest in securing a high selection for this year’s draft, where simply getting into the lottery could mean still getting a shot at a difference-making player.
The Pacers sit last in the East at 15-43, while the Jazz are 13th in the West at 18-40.
