Gambling in the NBA is a huge no-no. If players are found guilty of manipulating outcomes, they could lose tens of millions of dollars or even be banned for life. But does that stop some stars from engaging in such activities? No. Sebastian Telfair recently described just how serious gamblers NBA athletes can be, even recalling an incident where he himself dabbled in it with Clippers Head Coach Tyronn Lue.
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This revelation comes at a time when two popular NBA stars in Malik Beasley and Terry Rozier, are under investigation for reportedly violating the league’s gambling rules. Both continue to play for the Detroit Pistons and the Miami Heat, respectively, but if found to be culprits, they could be barred from playing in the NBA again, like Michael Porter Jr.’s brother, Jontay.
The number of players who actually gamble but don’t make headlines is likely large, if Telfair’s story is anything to go by. That’s not to say everyone is out there fixing games. Sometimes, it’s just done for the thrill of it.
“Gambling is huge in the NBA,” the former Los Angeles Clippers man said in an interview with DJVLAD. “Ty Lue, who coaches in the NBA. I remember being in Vegas gambling with him, and s*** I don’t even gamble, like, that’s not my cup of tea.”
What was absurd was the sheer amount of money being thrown around. Sure, NBA players are used to seeing millions, so a few thousand dollars on a poker table might not raise eyebrows. But a hundred thousand laid across? Even Telfair was stunned. “I’m sitting there, watching them gamble and shit. I remember Damon Jones losing, and he blamed it on me,” he recalled, simply because it was the first time Telfair had joined one of his games.
Telfair later revealed they had lost about $100,000 that day. A staggering sum to walk away from, but for these serial gamblers, it was just more motivation to try and win it back. After all, according to Telfair, NBA players gamble on the plane “every day.”
“When we’re traveling, we’re gambling. But not that type of gambling, we’re playing a specific game that we play in the league Bourrée,” he concluded. Sounds harmless, and hopefully, that’s all it was.
A little poker here and there isn’t really catastrophic. But when gambling and sports betting go hand in hand, as seen in the past with figures like Beasley and Porter, things turn ugly. Just stick to Bourrée on flights, maybe.
