NEW YORK — The NBA is reviewing its rules for how teams report injuries to the public in light of a sweeping federal investigation into illegal betting that resulted in the arrests of three current or former NBA coaches and players.
NBA general counsel Rick Buchanan and Dan Spillane, an NBA executive vice president of governance and policy, sent a memo to all 30 teams Monday that was obtained by The Athletic and states, in part, “given the spread of legal betting to the majority of U.S. states, the recurrence of integrity issues across sports, and the emergence of novel betting formats and markets, this is an opportune time to carefully reassess how sports betting should be regulated and how sports leagues can best protect themselves, their players, and their fans.”
The memo calls for heightened “legal/regulatory” procedures — which would either come from the government or perhaps the sports books, which partner with the NBA — “to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues.
In particular, the NBA is concerned with “proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.” Both Terry Rozier, who was indicted by the federal government last week, and Jontay Porter, who has already pleaded guilty for his involvement in the same illegal betting scheme, are accused of manipulating their performance so gambling associates could place wagers on “prop bets” involving them.
Where the NBA could act without the help of a sports book, or lawmakers at the state or federal level, or probably even without the participation of the players’ union, is by making changes to how injury information is made public.
As it stands, teams are first given the opportunity to declare a player’s injury designation in the late afternoon of the day before a game, but don’t have to formally rule a player out until 30 minutes before game time. The league memo states that a review process is under way with regards to its reporting rules for teams, and “with sports betting now occupying such a significant part of the current sports landscape, every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches, and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods; that our injury disclosure rules are appropriate; and that players are protected from harassment from bettors.”
The NBA, like all of the other major professional sports leagues in the U.S., has official, lucrative partnerships with major sports books like BetMGM, FanDuel, and DraftKings in which the leagues are paid a fixed amount, regardless of the sports book’s profitability. Additionally, a gambling expert who was granted anonymity to discuss private deals between individual sports teams and gambling companies said revenue-sharing agreements exist between teams that host physical locations for sports books at their stadiums or arenas. In those agreements, teams make money off of the “hold,” or the sports book’s net revenues after payouts. The gambling public, who are also ticket buyers and NBA League Pass subscribers, currently do not have the same access to injury information as the teams that are also earning money off of bets.
Coaches are required to address the media before each game – 105 minutes prior to the game for the home team and 90 minutes prior for the visiting team – and often remain vague about a player’s availability for that night’s game if he is listed as “questionable,” even though the team may be well aware the player will not play that night.
There was a specific instance on Sunday involving Lakers’ superstar Luka Dončić. Despite the fact that Dončić didn’t travel with the team to Sacramento for its Sunday night game — typically a clear sign that a player isn’t going to play in the next game — the Lakers didn’t announce Dončić’s absence until 12:15 p.m. Pacific time (just five hours and 45 minutes prior to tipoff).
He had a sprained finger and a lower left leg contusion that would be reevaluated in a week. The Lakers had listed Dončić as questionable on Saturday because of the finger, which he injured during his 49-point performance against Minnesota on Friday night, but the leg injury was a new revelation.
When speaking to reporters before the game in Sacramento, Lakers coach J.J. Redick shed light on the timing of it all.
“I became aware of (the leg), obviously, (on Saturday) and overnight, whatever he felt from that hit, it just materialized,” he said. “So obviously we want to be safe here.”
From the team’s perspective, there’s surely a gray area here that is increasingly difficult to navigate. In Dončić’s case, for example, even the smallest chance that he might have been able to push through and play in Sunday night’s game might compel a team to delay its reporting. Per a team source, the Lakers and Dončić did, in fact, discuss the prospect of him taking the one-hour flight on Sunday from Los Angeles to Sacramento to play before they ultimately decided against it. The source also added that they were in touch with the NBA about the situation throughout the process. As it stands, Dončić is now expected to miss at least four games with these injuries (the Lakers have games against Portland, Minnesota and Memphis within that one-week timeline).
Last week, Damon Jones, a former NBA player and assistant coach who was working privately for LeBron James on the Lakers during the 2022-23 season, was charged with funneling injury information about star players on the team before it was publicly available so gambling associates could place bets.
Over the weekend in the NFL, an uproar ensued over the Baltimore Ravens’ mishandling of their public reporting of star quarterback Lamar Jackson’s injury status. The Ravens initially listed Jackson, who missed his third straight game Sunday with a hamstring injury he suffered on Sept. 28, as a full participant on the game’s final injury report Friday. He was listed as questionable for the game. Saturday, the Ravens downgraded Jackson to “out” and clarified Friday’s injury report, saying the quarterback was limited.
Coach John Harbaugh said it was an “honest mistake” by the team’s medical and public relations staff that led to incorrectly listing Jackson as a full participant on its injury report Friday. While Jackson did practice Friday, he did so with the scout team. Injury designation violations can result in serious penalties, such as a loss of draft picks or suspensions. The NFL, like the NBA, has financial partnerships with major sports books.
“While regulation cannot eliminate all concerns related to game integrity, it significantly reduces risks by enabling collaboration between operators, leagues, teams, and relevant authorities to identify and hold accountable anyone engaged in illegal behavior,” a spokesperson for DraftKings said. “We know our fans value the authenticity of competition, and we take the responsibility of reporting suspicious activity seriously. As a proud partner of the NBA, DraftKings remains committed to working closely with the league to ensure the continued integrity of the game.”
The NBA’s memo also said the league was examining how to use artificial intelligence to enhance its internal monitoring systems to catch potentially illegal betting activity, and asked recipients (team executives and lawyers) for suggestions.
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