NBA is not free from rig

[Russlenat]

just saw this  news....

Former NBA players Malik Beasley and Ed Davis and an NBA agent are among six defendants indicted Monday on charges related to an alleged sports gambling scheme that targeted at least four games during the 2023-24 season, according to a federal indictment released Monday.

Davis and co-defendants Rob Gorodetsky, Ernesto Plascencia and William Brown were arrested Monday, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. Beasley and defendant Paolo Zamorano, who was Davis' agent, were not in custody as of Monday morning.

Steve Haney, Beasley's attorney, said that they have coordinated with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the ex-player to voluntarily surrender this week.

"An indictment is not proof of guilt or evidence. It is merely a charge of probable cause," Haney said in a statement to ESPN. "The investigation was a year and a half long and we maintain Malik's innocence of all charges."

According to the indictment, Beasley lost millions of dollars gambling during his nine-year NBA career. He agreed to manipulate his statistics ahead of at least four games during the 2023-24 season while he was with the Milwaukee Bucks so that the co-conspirators could wager on the stats, according to the indictment.

This is his nba stats. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/beaslma01.html

So what does it say? It says that even major sports leagues are never free from manipulation.

And I’m pretty sure he is not the only one doing that. There could still be many active NBA players now who are doing it without being noticed, and if they do it successfully, they can make millions easily since sports betting is a billion-dollar industry.

By spreading their bets across different sportsbooks, they can successfully place a bet without making it too obvious.

So the reflection is, don’t trust the stats too much. Sometimes, you also have to look at the rigged angle.

[Natalim]

There have been many rumors before that the game is rigged, but it was never proven. But based on that report, it is not the NBA itself that is rigged. It is more on the player trying to take advantage of being an NBA player, where he can manipulate his own production while on the court.

That is hard to detect, but he was detected, and that is why there is a case against him, if my understanding is correct.

But despite it not being the NBA itself, it can still impact the game because even 1 point can already make a big difference. So you are right, we also have to consider this angle.

[leea-1334]

You know I always suspect when big swings happen on lines of over under. Like a player can score like crazy and then just need 2 points,,, then he blanks the whole rest of the game. Too easy to bet on yourself now especially with Poly and what not,,, heck I would do it if I could honestly since I am anyway playing a rigged game

[aioc]

By spreading their bets across different sportsbooks, they can successfully place a bet without making it too obvious.

If they are that good, then they should not have been caught. The authorities, the organization, and his team are looking at every player's performance for assessment, so they will eventually be caught, and there are always squealers that will expose these players.

So the reflection is, don’t trust the stats too much. Sometimes, you also have to look at the rigged angle.

That is, if you are good at identifying players who are rigging their games, it's hard to assume there is rigging, since we are comfortable assuming there is none because the organization is looking into it.

[Ruttoshi]

So the reflection is, don’t trust the stats too much. Sometimes, you also have to look at the rigged angle.

How will you know that a game is rigged or not that you said we should also look at the rigged angle. What happened in the OP was between the players due to their greed but still the guy lost heavily which shows that they could only rig few games because it was looking suspicious if not, nobody will care out an investigation.

Nobody says big leagues cannot be rigged but the chance of that happening is very slim and the chance of getting caught is higher.

[danherbias07]

There's a chance it can be rigged. But I will not say it is totally rigged.

What Malik Beasley did was manipulate his stats, and the NBA would not know what he was trying to do. But when a player turns over the ball frequently without any good reason, there's a chance he is trying to boost his number of turnovers for his own benefit to win. Or someone placed a bet for him so that it won't be tracked directly to him.
That can happen, without any doubt. Players are trying to ball hog because they are boosting their stats to reach a certain number and win the bet, or doing some bad plays to lose the game. This can happen not only in the NBA but also in other major sports.

[Smartprofit]

As we know, any police officer fears nothing more than the internal audit department. It's far more frightening than any criminal with a knife and a gun. 🙋

Similar analytical services exist in professional sports, too. These services are specifically designed to ensure integrity in sports. And they work quite well. They monitor players' actions and, if necessary, forward their investigative reports to the FBI. Any anomalies in a player's behavior are likely to be noticed.

NBA players are generally reluctant to risk contracts worth tens of millions of dollars for paltry bets with bookmakers. There may be exceptions to this rule, but they are rare. People, especially those who have achieved success, generally behave rationally. 💁

[OgNasty]

It is pretty crazy that with the amount of money these guys make, they still turn to doing illegal activity to make a few bucks. Even at the cost of their teammates. I think this is a financial education issue and someone really should do a better job of helping these players get setup for life.

[Makus]

There have been many rumors before that the game is rigged, but it was never proven. But based on that report, it is not the NBA itself that is rigged. It is more on the player trying to take advantage of being an NBA player, where he can manipulate his own production while on the court.

That is hard to detect, but he was detected, and that is why there is a case against him, if my understanding is correct.

But despite it not being the NBA itself, it can still impact the game because even 1 point can already make a big difference. So you are right, we also have to consider this angle.

The thing about sports games is that there are always rumors of rigging going on but there's no proof of this, most sports fans or Bettors say that the game is being rigged even without knowing if that information is actually true. There is a possibility that this takes place in the NBA especially when a player tries to bet on themselves or on other athletes, normally this is something that's prohibited but some players attempt this and some even succeed in doing it, in such cases it is possible for this to happen.

[dwyane36]

It is pretty crazy that with the amount of money these guys make, they still turn to doing illegal activity to make a few bucks. Even at the cost of their teammates. I think this is a financial education issue and someone really should do a better job of helping these players get setup for life.

First and foremost, players themselves need to be aware of the consequences of their actions and have at least some understanding of financial literacy, or, at the very least, their closest, more experienced peers can advise them. The scenario where the NBA would babysit every player when it comes to financial literacy seems unlikely to me.

[Hazink]

It is pretty crazy that with the amount of money these guys make, they still turn to doing illegal activity to make a few bucks. Even at the cost of their teammates. I think this is a financial education issue and someone really should do a better job of helping these players get setup for life.

Financial education or greed? I think greed has taken a better version than of most people out there. In that no matter the amount of money they make, they never get satisfied. When ever there is an opportunity to earn extra, they grab it without thinking about precaution, as they always think they are smart enough not to get caught. 

[robelneo]

So the reflection is, don’t trust the stats too much. Sometimes, you also have to look at the rigged angle.

Not only the NBA, but also many sports can be rigged, have been rigged, or are being rigged. There will always be bad eggs in sports; sports organizations, experts, and fans should keep a watchful eye and report any rigging they discover. We have to protect the sports we love, so we watch them, have fun with them, and bet on them, knowing they're not manipulated and that both teams or fighters are putting in their best effort to win.

[Cryptomultiplier]

So the reflection is, don’t trust the stats too much. Sometimes, you also have to look at the rigged angle.

Not only the NBA, but also many sports can be rigged, have been rigged, or are being rigged. There will always be bad eggs in sports; sports organizations, experts, and fans should keep a watchful eye and report any rigging they discover. We have to protect the sports we love, so we watch them, have fun with them, and bet on them, knowing they're not manipulated and that both teams or fighters are putting in their best effort to win.

While we can't totally get rid of rigging in sports betting mostly for the top leagues like NBA, it is a fact that rigging is much more predominant in the lower league competitions where there isn't as much sophistication and watchdogs.

We can't stop gambling or looking for ways to make money from gambling activities because we have lost so much already and this means for me that if I were in their shoes, I might probably do same after all the goal is to make more money than I have lost and be able to retire early with a huge amount of money in the bank to fund my lifestyle and other responsibilities.

[Obim34]

It is pretty crazy that with the amount of money these guys make, they still turn to doing illegal activity to make a few bucks. Even at the cost of their teammates. I think this is a financial education issue and someone really should do a better job of helping these players get setup for life.

Trust humans at your own risk, as long sports involvement is more on human efforts, it is certainly not free from manipulation, both the players, referees and all official sport bodies, can involve themselves to sell a match outcome for personal gambling benefits. There are many doing the same than those caught in the act, some are too good to be caught red handed.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

It's not the NBA per se, but the players themselves, we have seen such cases already in the past, not just the players, but the referee themselves,

NBA Referee Tim Donaghy Is Sentenced to Prison for Betting on Games
Jontay Porter banned from NBA for violating league's gaming rules

So it's more of these individuals involving themselves into gambling and trying to manipulate the results or their stats to win their own bet. Although this actions can cast doubts on the integrity of the league itself.

[Bright0515]

You know I always suspect when big swings happen on lines of over under. Like a player can score like crazy and then just need 2 points,,, then he blanks the whole rest of the game. Too easy to bet on yourself now especially with Poly and what not,,, heck I would do it if I could honestly since I am anyway playing a rigged game

I have actually thought about this too and it makes me wonder if it is done intentionally, there are games that a player just needs a single point but for some reasons that point us refused to be scored. When players bet on themselves they do everything they can on the pitch to stick according to their plan. As an athlete or NBA star doing this comes with consequences when it is being spotted, some have been kicked of their team because if this.

[Ronsbit]

It is pretty crazy that with the amount of money these guys make, they still turn to doing illegal activity to make a few bucks. Even at the cost of their teammates. I think this is a financial education issue and someone really should do a better job of helping these players get setup for life.

It is quite unfortunate that they would stoop so low to committing such illegal act even with the money they make from ambassadorial appointment, advertising and other endorsements they make good money from. This manipulations from them seems cool with them but many of their fans out there would pay heavily because I of their greed and carelessness.  Maybe disciplinary actions would likely help instill ordaliness and coordination.

[rachael9385]

There are lots of reasons why people might think that the NBA is rigged but the question here is what if they are wrong? Most of the players that bet on themselves are doing it of their own accord and it is not something that is common knowledge. When players are found doing that they are fired immediately because the NBA values their integrity.

[Harkorede]

It is pretty crazy that with the amount of money these guys make, they still turn to doing illegal activity to make a few bucks. Even at the cost of their teammates. I think this is a financial education issue and someone really should do a better job of helping these players get setup for life.

At this rate, I'm finding it at to believe it's just about the extra few bucks they'll make and more about the thrill to just gamble and knowing that they have the ability to decide the bet outcome as well, if you remember the case of Jontay where in an instance it was all for an $80,000 bet and another where the winnings from the bets was just around $21k, you'll wonder why risk you whole NBA career ? a generational opportunity, that have been on trajectory all middle school, to high school, college and all... It definitely just can't be solely about those few bucks, no way!

[acroman08]

It never was, and this isn't the first time an NBA player has been involved in match fixing or stat manipulation, and I don't doubt this will be the last time an NBA player will be involved in match fixing or stat manipulation. The only thing I always question with these athletes is why. I mean, being drafted in one of the NBA teams is one of a life time opportunity and their chance of making a lot of money is high, so I don't really understand why would they throw that away by involving themselves with match fixing.