Posted on 07/03/2025 9:34:11 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Last April, the NBA issued its first lifetime ban for gambling in 70 years to Jontay Porter after finding that “Porter disclosed confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor. Another individual with whom Porter associated and knew to be an NBA bettor subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay proposition bet with an online sports book, to win $1.1 million, wagering that Porter would underperform in the March 20 game.”
Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that a 2023 game played by then-Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier was under federal investigation stemming from the same probe into Porter. The league said they “conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules,” but it’s alarming that the federal probe into a relative unknown like Porter expanded into a $96.3 million dollar player like Rozier.
And now that probe may be continuing to expand into a player with $60 million in career earnings and multiple stops on his NBA tour, as federal authorities are investigating Detroit Pistons guard and impending free agent Malik Beasley on allegations of gambling related to NBA games and prop bets. A gambling industry source told ESPN’s David Purdum that “At least one prominent US sportsbook detected unusually heavy betting interest on Beasley’s statistics beginning around January 2024” when he played for the Milwaukee Bucks.
How bad is this?
There is clearly some shadiness that occurred in games from the 2023-24 season, as it has resulted in a federal probe and a lifetime ban for at least one player. The NBA’s regular season has long been regarded as something of a joke, going back even well before the days of Tim Duncan’s “DNP – old” designations from San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
(Excerpt) Read more at splinter.com ...
Pro sports are all about gambling....I mean you can gamble between quarters or downs in football...its all about gambling and how to orchestrate games...wake up.
As a longtime observer and somewhat follower of the NBA, I believe the pinnacle of the NBA is the 1980’s. Jordan worship is the start of the slide. Hanging all their flags on Jordan, move the game from the game itself to personalities. Jordan won like many DPOY awards and fouled out how many times? From my perspective, it not possible to be a defensive guru and not be sitting on the bench for being too aggressive. Referees HAD to help.
You need to have actual stars to "carry" a sport.
Tiger Woods in Golf. Caitlin Clark in Women's Basketball. Mike Tyson in basketball.
Michael Jordan had "it" factor in the NBA. LeBron James was supposed to be his successor. Clearly, James is talented. But he's an @$$hole and no one likes him.
If you're a star, you have to have charisma. You can be the best player in the whole world but if you're a ****ing jerk, fans won't buy tickets to your games.
In the mid-1950s I was in Madison Square Garden to watch a game in which I recall Tom Heinsohn was the star of what I think was a Holy Cross squad. Toward the end of the game Heisohn’s team would be ahead by seven, and it seemed the hundreds of people in my section would go nuts. Then the other team, which may have been UCLA with Willie the Whale Naulls, would score two, and this time the anger would be palpable. This went on for about two minutes, until finally, me, the dumb west coaster asked a spectator what the hell was the big deal. Holy Cross was bound to win. The fan informed me that the betting line was Holy Cross plus six, and as the game teetered back and forth thousands of dollars were at stake. Yeah. Basketball is now, and has been for years a betting game.
And Michael Jordan escaped by becoming a baseball player.
Go figure.....
NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on the games he was officiating. I worked in the sport a bit; one other official said Donaghy didn’t affect the outcomes of games, just the point spreads.
That doesn’t affect the sport, just the gamblers.
That doesn’t affect the sport, just the gamblers.
The intensity is no longer there in sports if they are all about covering the spread because they want to get paid by the gamblers. It's all about money rather than the competition itself.
Luis Ortiz got caught gambling when an irregular influx of money came in on the “First Pitch Of The 3rd Inning Will Be a Ball” bet and he came out and threw this 😂 😂 😂 #guilty pic.twitter.com/9oqvOwM01D— Ohio’s Tate (@BarstoolTate) July 3, 2025
“So really the ratings have started to decline before the NBA decided to legalize gambling.”
The ratings decline because of the marketing and changes to the game that have taken it from an intricate sport of ball handling, shooting, and strategy to a back alley fist fight not even limited to the sidelines on the court. Sex and violence sells so they go with the money. And when it went pro it started out like a game and went to a business. And everything that sold for the game became one upmanship over team concept and who could put butts in the seats and ultimately get the TV contracts. Also applies to women’s leagues. Until they could find someone to dunk, it turned into a cat fight even to the point of eating their pocketbook in the feist. At the time of a news article from ESPN there had been 43 misconduct techs in the WNBA. 17 were perpetuated by attacks against one player who happened to increase the revenue immensely and was filling those seats everywhere she went, Caitlin Clark. That’s almost half the intentional fouls in the league being done against one player. And people were miffed that she didn’t go to the olympics? The owners didn’t want their golden goose hurt.
wy69
wy69
I don’t know ask Michael Jordan. Also ask him about what to do to players who palm the ball and travel all the time.
Uncle Guido hardest hit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.