Patrick Kinahan: Final Jazz home game reflects NBA issues

SALT LAKE CITY — Imagine during the final home game of the season in the Jazz glory years if fans began egging on Jerry Sloan to insert a perpetual bench player into waning minutes of another blowout win.

And fathom that player standing up and pointing to the no-frills coach, as if to further prod him. To complete the story, Sloan raises his hand and gives a literal thumbs down in rejecting the notion.

Yeah, we could see a jovial Sloan playing along with the "light-hearted" moment. Yeah, right.

Yet, that very scenario played out as the Jazz closed out the home schedule on another miserable season. Laughs abounded when the crowd tried to coax coach Will Hardy into playing 37-year-old Kevin Love in a joke of a game in which two Jazz little-known substitutes each posted a watered-down triple double against a Memphis team that lost 22 of its last 23 games.

The nucleus of the Jazz rotation enjoyed the moment of levity. There the regular starters were in full jocularity as they all again sat on the bench in street clothes.

Hardy har har.

Outside of running on the court to celebrate John Stockton's shot that lifted the Jazz into the NBA Finals and the occasional stare at an opponent or referee, Sloan was rarely in a playful mood during games. Knowing his all-business attitude, the crowd probably would have been scared to demand anything from him, anyway.

Different times in for the Jazz and NBA, for sure.

Before thinking this is a hit piece on the Jazz, don't blame anybody associated with the team. With load management more of the routine and numerous organizations prioritizing drafting positions over winning, the NBA is saddled with serious problems.

With all the salary cap restrictions and penalties, trades and free agent signings are difficult to maneuver. To improve, lousy teams have little choice but to rebuild through the draft.

See the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons as two recent examples. Both teams have used high draft picks to catapult up the standings.

Instead of anticipating the obvious tanking problem that has been evident for years, the league waited far too long to address the issue. Fines, like the two levied against the Jazz the last two seasons, are weak band-aid non-solutions.

The lack of strong leadership, starting at the top, has failed the game and its fans in annually making a mockery of the regular season. The nights of the likes of Stockton and Karl Malone playing 82 games are long gone.

For those still interested, the playoffs often offer compelling storylines and strong competition. The upcoming two months should be no exception.

In a commentary posted on social media Sunday, longtime national media figure Collin Cowherd addressed the salary cap going down instead of expanding. He said: "Yet the league keeps telling us how well they're doing (and) the future's never been brighter, but your cap is shrinking. That's not a mixed signal; it's a red flag with sirens."

The prominent and influential talk show host said, according to a 2026 data point, star players miss roughly two-thirds of marquee television games and called tanking an epidemic. He divisively congratulated the league on cashing the checks off the new television deal but "Don't tell me everything is OK. Don't sell me the glossy version when the product underneath is cracking."

Thankfully for all of us, the Jazz closed out four years of tanking with their 60th loss of the season last Sunday. With a mix of veterans and a core of promising young players, they will realistically enter next season intending to compete for the postseason.

Count on newcomer Jaren Jackson Jr. and holdover Lauri Markkanen, who has played at least 66 games only once in the last four years with the Jazz, to change the franchise's fortunes. Playing to win, no doubt, would make Sloan smile.

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