Terry Rozier walked into a courtroom on Thursday morning with his ankles shackled, hands cuffed, and donning a blue Hornets hoodie. His arrest, for allegations of involvement in an illegal sports betting ring, was used as a big finger wag to those who might have the same idea in the future.
"As the NBA season tips off, his career is already benched — not for injury, but for integrity," New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a televised press conference announcing the details of Rozier's charges.
Rozier has already been placed on immediate leave from his team. So was Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, who was involved in his own gambling allegations on Thursday. It's been widely speculated that both will be banished from the league if found guilty, similar to the punishment that commissioner Adam Silver doled out to Jontay Porter upon his guilty plea for his involvement in fraudulent sports betting activity last year.
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It is tempting for the league to send a strong message to its players by throwing the book at them. Certainly, anything that puts the integrity of the league's games in doubt cannot be allowed to continue. But placing all of the blame on Rozier, Porter, Malik Beasley, former player and assistant coach Damon Jones, or any of the other future names that are bound to be involved in these types of cases won't fix the actual problem at hand.
Rozier didn't cause the NBA's gambling headache. Neither did Porter, Billups, or any of the other players who will inevitably follow in their footsteps. The league did. They could use a long look in the mirror instead of scapegoating the players.
The NBA is now suffering the consequences of what everyone knew was inevitable when they took a big paycheck to partner with sportsbooks in 2021. In place of points, rebounds, and assists, spreads, parlays, and moneylines have become the new common language of the NBA fan.
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That isn't going away, no matter how many people Silver bans. The league inundated all of us with gambling advertisements. It has never been easier to place a bet, or more difficult to stop hearing about them.
In the olden days, all the way back in 2020, these types of incidents rarely happened. Back then, players like Porter wouldn't be able to easily accrue large gambling debts, putting themselves at risk of shakedowns. It doesn't take a statistician to realize that the relationship between increased betting exposure and increased gambling scandals is causal.
"Everybody struggles with something," Jontay's brother Michael said this summer on his YouTube channel. "For some, it’s alcohol. For others, it’s drugs. My brother, for example, struggled with gambling."
Some percentage of the population will become alcoholics, drug addicts, and problem gamblers. NBA players are special in their athletic skill, but addiction doesn't discriminate. The league provided easy access to a drug. They can't act surprised when some players lose control of it.
Those addicts still existed before the league's partnerships. But when they removed floodgates, they paid nothing more than lip service in putting any additional safeguards in place.
Silver is aware of the elephant in the room, as he discussed in an appearance on the Pat McAfee show on Tuesday. He focused his attention on the government and gambling legislation more so than actions that could be taken directly by the league.
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"I think probably there should be more regulation, frankly. Maybe surprising to hear from me. I wish there was federal legislation rather than state-by-state. I think you've got to monitor the amount of promotion, the amount of advertising around it."
The league is capable of solving this problem before it's too late. There is a very simple first step — ban gambling ads on the broadcasts. Stop ingraining gambling into the culture of the sport.
Ultimately, all gambling ads should be restricted. Australia, which has a much longer history of legalized sports betting, is fighting for that very change. Despite overwhelming support from its citizens, the gambling companies have become too powerful there to make it happen. It's not too late for America.
Watching players like Rozier get extreme punishments may feel right. Certainly, he isn't blameless if he did indeed make the poor decisions that he is accused of. But the real culprit is the league and the money that it's taking in from incessant ads. They made a bad bet. Instead of paying it off, they're passing the buck.