March madness appears to be taking on multiple meanings these days.
While it signals the start of action-packed tournament hoops at the college level, in the NBA it appears to denote the league’s frustration with certain lineups being rolled out across the league.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, multiple teams are being closely monitored for potentially improper absences.
Charania singled out the Oklahoma City Thunder as one of those teams, as the NBA is reportedly investigating them following a win against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 7 in which no regular starters — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein — played.
Earlier on Friday, Charania made an appearance on the Pat McAfee show and mentioned that the Philadelphia 76ers are another team the NBA is looking at due to players being sidelined in recent weeks.
The reports from Charania come two days after the Utah Jazz were fined $100,000 for violating the player participation policy after they failed to make Lauri Markkanen, who is considered a star player, available for a game against Washington on March 5, as well as other recent contests.
Markkanen, 27, had been out of the Jazz’s lineup since Feb. 24, missing nine consecutive games in that span. The one-time All-Star had been listed as out due to low back injury management.
The Finnish forward has played in both of Utah’s games since the fine was levied.
The NBA’s player participation policy is in place for “the interests of fans, integrity of the game, player health, competitive fairness among teams, and transparency.”
Unless a team demonstrates an approved reason for a star player — which the NBA defines as any player who has been named to an All-NBA or All-Star team in any of the prior three seasons (plus, at any time in a season after the All-Star Game, the addition of that season’s All-Star Team) — to not participate in a game, then it must comply with the following rules:
• Teams must manage their roster to ensure that no more than one star player is unavailable for the same game.
• Teams must ensure that star players are available for national TV and In-Season Tournament games.
• Teams must maintain a balance between the number of one-game absences for a star player in road games and the number of one-game absences for a star player in home games, with a preference under the Policy for such absences to occur in home games.
• Teams must refrain from any long-term shutdown whereby a star player ceases participating in games or begins to play a materially reduced role in circumstances affecting the integrity of the game.
• Teams must, if resting a healthy player, ensure the player is present at the game and visible to fans.
In the Thunder’s case, while no determination has been made, the fact that both Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, who were All-Stars this season, sat against Portland appears to have been enough for the league to investigate. Gilgeous-Alexander was ruled out for that contest for rest, while Williams did not play due to a wrist injury, according to the Thunder.
Meanwhile, the 76ers have played a majority of the season without its star trio of Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and the oft-injured Joel Embiid, who’s been ruled out for the season due to ongoing knee issues.
According to Charania, the NBA is looking into Philadelphia for concerns stemming from recent absences from Maxey and George, who have both missed the team’s previous four games due to groin and back injuries, respectively.
The 76ers’ first-round pick in the 2025 Draft is top-six protected, meaning it will be moved to the Thunder if it falls below No. 6 following the lottery.
Philadelphia has won just two of its last 16 games, going a winless 0-9 throughout the last three weeks of February. The 76ers are now 12th in the Eastern Conference thanks to a 22-43 record, and own the fifth-best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick.
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