NBA players are always well-received by fans, whether at home or on the road. It comes with the job.
But this season, the sky is getting darker and darker.
The recent surge in legalized gambling in every professional league and across college sports has impacted American sports in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. But amid the potential benefits of hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue for the NBA and other leagues, there’s also something new and ominous: the invective directed at players and coaches simply because of fans’ bets.
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Fans can now bet instantly on their smartphones on every aspect of a game, including details such as how many rebounds a player is likely to have in the first half and how many points a team will score in the fourth quarter. If their bets don’t pan out, they blame the players.
“This is outrageous,” Los Angeles Clippers forward P.J. Tucker said recently. “It’s a little crazy. Even in the arena, you can hear fans yelling at players. It’s unreal. It’s a problem. I think it’s something that has to be addressed.”
The team has yet to make significant changes to its security details, and the NBA has not recommended increased security near the court. But at least one team has added an extra security guard to its bench this season to deal with increased gambling conflicts. Another team has beefed up its cybersecurity staff to detect particularly nasty vitriol directed at its players online by fans.
“It’s everywhere,” Toronto Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji said. “It’s the Wild West now.”
For decades, gambling was the third rail of sports, aside from one-time events like the Super Bowl and March Madness office pools. College basketball has been rocked by numerous score-shaving scandals. Professional leagues have vigorously distanced themselves from gambling, even refusing to play games in Las Vegas, where it is legal and popular. Then the Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing sports betting in 2018, and with it came huge changes.
Fans flocked to the emerging market, and professional leagues quickly transformed. If fans open their current virtual wallets and spend money to buy games, the league wants a piece of the pie.
The team now has a partnership with the casino and is building its own arena next to the casino. Announcers, long allergic to anything involving betting, now routinely quote betting information on the air. The NBA recently announced that it will allow fans to watch games on its streaming app, track betting odds, and click-to-place bets with the league’s betting partners FanDuel and DraftKings.
(athletec Established a partnership with BetMGM. )
But the unintended consequences of this new relationship are coming from increasingly exasperated fans.
“You see people on Twitter, you know, fans going back and forth with players on Twitter about how you’re losing money,” Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said. “I guess it’s a little bit It’s funny. I don’t know. I guess I do feel bad when I don’t hit other people’s parlays. I don’t want them to lose money. But, you know, I just go out and try to play the game.”
Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said last month that a gambler somehow obtained Bickerstaff’s cellphone number and left him threatening text and voice messages suggesting he knew Where Bickerstaff and his family live.
“This is a dangerous game and we’re definitely walking a delicate line,” Bickerstaff said.
Toronto Raptors forward Jordan Nwora said comments from fans about betting have been “constant, non-stop.”
“You will get the message,” Nwora said. “You hear it on the sidelines. You see people talking about it all the time.
“That comes with being in the NBA. People bet on stupid things every day. So I mean, that’s part of being in the NBA, that comes with it. I get it. When you hit a People don’t complain when it’s a good game. I don’t get messages from people saying “thank you for helping me.” “
A league spokesman said incidents of fans making comments about gambling to players and team personnel are not more common than other fan misconduct, but the league continues to monitor the situation.
The source of much of the outrage is so-called prop betting, which was previously an odd corner of the betting underground but has quickly become popular with fans. Prop bets are bets placed on parts of the game that may not be relevant to the outcome. How long does it take to play the national anthem? How many turnovers will a certain player make in the first half? How many rebounds will there be in total?
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Two recent incidents involving prop betting have raised questions about whether basketball players are influenced by gamblers. Regulators discovered irregular betting patterns at some Temple University men’s basketball games this season. The NBA told ESPN last week it was investigating Raptors forward Jontay Porter after he was flagged for irregularities in betting involving his performance in two games.
NBA players have noticed a shift in fan interest.
“For half the world, I just help them make money on DraftKings or something,” Indiana Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton said last month.
“I’m a prop,” he added. “You know what I mean? That’s what my social media is all about.”
Haliburton elaborated on his comments in a recent interview Competitor. He said the verbal abuse during games was much worse than when he entered the league four years ago.
“Bettors have something called a ‘ban’ list, which is when you don’t honor their bets,” Haliburton said. “So they’re going to say, ‘You’re on my banned list. I’m not going to continue to bet on you. I think that’s really all I’ve mentioned in the last six weeks,” he said, referring to social media.
I asked too #pacers Star Tyrese Haliburton specifically addressed a conversation with a sports psychologist, in which he noted in his response how sports betting consumes a lot of his social media.
“For half the people in the world, I just help them make money through DraftKings or whatever. I’m a prop.” pic.twitter.com/6f2a0vEuiK
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) March 20, 2024
Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony also brought up the no-show list, noting that parlay betting increases the focus and pressure when multiple bets are combined into one bet.
“There were points where I just thought, ‘This is disgusting,'” Anthony said. “It’s not disgusting, but in a way it’s interesting to see this stuff and see how seriously a lot of people take it.”
The NBA is particularly vulnerable to this new fan dynamic. Its players don’t hide behind pads and helmets, and they perform in close proximity to fans, some of whom talk to coaches and players during games.
Team security will not face abusive fans – that is the responsibility of stadium security. Behavior deemed “abusive or disruptive”, including talking about gambling (if gambling is particularly offensive), could result in expulsion. Typically, fans receive a verbal warning from court security for violating the NBA Fan Code of Conduct, which is advertised during games. Fans who do not cease disruptive behavior may receive a warning card – a written warning indicating that further inappropriate behavior will result in expulsion. A third incident will result in the fan being ejected – although if a fan is particularly nasty to players or staff once, they may be ejected.
The alliance monitors social media activity through its Global Security Operations Center, which has eight to 10 employees. The NBA also shares intelligence with other sports leagues. Certain players, coaches and referees tend to attract more attention on social platforms than others. League security meets with teams twice a season to remind them of gambling rules.
Cavaliers head coach Bickerstaff said he informed team security about the fan who threatened him. Security services found the person who left the messages and text messages, but Bickerstaff and the team declined to pursue legal action.
Tatum said the rhetoric has “definitely changed” compared to his first few seasons in the league.
“I think people will tell me when you hit their bets and benefit them,” he said. “But they also talk nonsense. It’s like I’m out there and I’m not scoring 29.5 points or anything I’m supposed to be doing.”
—Sam Amick, Eric Koreen, Josh Robbins, James Boyd, Jared Weiss and Jason Lloyd contributed reporting.
(Photo by Tyrese Haliburton: Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)
