In the NBA, there's a difference between 'tanking' and 'positioning'

The Pacers’ Taelon Peter (left) and the Jazz’s Brice Sensabaugh (right) have seen NBA commissioner Adam Silver fine their teams for tanking.AP

Question: Can we elevate the conversation?

You know, from tanking in the NBA to what it actually is?

Because the 2026 version of what is being targeted as ‘‘tanking’’ is giving what’s happening a bad name. It’s called ‘‘positioning.’’ What NBA teams are being accused of doing and being heavily fined for — so far, commissioner Adam Silver has hit the Jazz and the Pacers with $500K and $100K fines, respectively — is not at all the same as what tanking has been accused of being in the past.

This is some new at-the-quarter-century break different-‘‘ish.’’ In…