NBA players get brutally honest on predatory aspect of league’s gambling promotions in wake of Jontay Porter’s punishment

For years, Pete Rose was ostracized from the baseball community and out of the Hall of Fame because of his gambling scandal.

Now, major sports leagues are embracing sportsbooks and sports betting. More than that, they’re pushing it 24/7 on all their platforms, even during live games.

The league’s credibility has been questioned multiple times, and after watching Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter be involved in a betting scheme centered on his player props, it’s easy to understand why some fans would feel that way.

With that in mind, The Athletic surveyed dozens of NBA players and asked their thoughts on the sports gambling frenzy and how it has affected the game over the past couple of years.

While there were some players on the fence or who thought this was positive, most of the responses were negative. Some seem to believe the league is holding a double standard for the sake of making more money:

“It’s not great wfhen you’re banning players, understandably, for gambling, and then you’re promoting it. It would be like telling us not to do cocaine and then giving the players cocaine in the locker room,” one player said.

The NBA could ban more players

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver didn’t hesitate to ban Jontay Porter for life. It goes without saying that NBA players aren’t allowed to bet on the NBA, and while Porter placed wagers on his player props and gave insider info about his health, it still hurt the credibility of the game:

“The ultimate, extreme option I have is to ban him from the game,” Silver said. “That’s the level of authority I have here because there’s nothing more serious around this league when it comes to gambling around our games than direct player involvement. The investigation is ongoing but the consequences could be severe.”

Multiple players have complained about fans getting in their DMs and threatening them after messing up their parlays. Given the exposure sports betting has gotten over the past couple of years, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more, not fewer, incidents like this in the future.

The league looked to make an example out of Porter for this ‘cardinal sin,’ per Silver’s words. Even so, they continue to push people to do what one of their players couldn’t.

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About the author

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alt=”Ernesto Cova” height=”72″ width=”72″>

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto’s all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto’s second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto’s favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela — his country — took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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Edited by Gio Vergara