The NBA establishes injury reporting policies, reviewing other “sports betting policies” and tanking rules
Having an NBA player and an active coach — Miami’s Terry Rozier and Portland’s Chauncey Billups, respectively — arrested and appear in court on federal illegal gambling charges has shaken the NBA. Soon after, league executives and lawyers were reviewing old cases and looking ahead, trying to fill the gaps that fueled the gambling allegations in the first place.
All of this has led to a change in the league’s injury reporting rules, something the league informed teams about via a memo on Friday, reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Teams currently only have to update the injury report every hour on game days. Both Rozier and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones have been charged in federal court with sharing inside information about injuries with bettors, who were able to profit from bets under propositions.
Announcement
Commissioner Adam Silver said this week that the league is thinking about a big picture for how to address gaps like those involving Rozier and Jones
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“We are, as I said right now, working with our teams, thinking about anything else we can do, if there’s any aspect of our system that needs to be shored up, and that includes working with regulators on some, certain types of problematic bets,” Silver said before the NBA Cup final Tuesday night in Las Vegas. “For example, we know that under and prop bets are the areas where we are most vulnerable. As I think you know, we do not control the bets placed on our sport right now. We are left to lobby regulators or try to convince legal sports betting companies that this is bad for them too.”
The league memo told teams this (via The Athletic): “The crux of the NBA’s position is that sports leagues should have control over the types of bets offered on their games. Because leagues currently have no such control, any changes will have to be pursued through negotiation with sports betting operations, requests to state gaming regulators, legislative action, or a combination of these avenues.”
While the league may be able to influence its partners – such as DraftKings or FanDuel – to eliminate or significantly reduce the amount that can be wagered on prop bets, there are increasingly popular prediction markets that are much more like the Wild West and over which the league has no say. There is no simple answer for the league, although better injury reporting would help.
This also led the league to undertake “a renewed review of the league’s policy changes regarding ‘tanking’ – such as potential rule changes regarding draft pick protection, revised draft lottery rules and other approaches,” Charania reports it. This news comes as we pass the 1/3 mark of the NBA season, and with some teams looking ahead to what is considered a deep, top-talented draft, there will be a temptation to field late-night lineups with a lesser chance of winning. The league already has a policy on resting star players – the Cleveland Cavaliers have been fined twice this season – but this is only part of the challenge.