With the Jazz tanking and trying to land a top-three spot in the lottery, nobody expected to see Markkanen again this season.Except for NBA league executives. Markkanen, an All-Star in 2023, qualifies as a "star player" under the league's Player Participation Policy — the policy put in place a couple of years ago to ensure the league's biggest names are on the court for regular season games (trying to slow the trend of load management).

The Utah Jazz have been hit with a hefty fine by the NBA. The NBA has fined the Jazz $100,000 for violating the Player Participating Policy when the team failed to make Lauri Markkanen available for a game on March 5. ESPN's Shams Charania shared via X. The NBA has fined the Utah Jazz $100,000 for violations of the player participation policy.