WANNA BET? We’ve all heard that many, many times in our life. But its usually at the lowest level—with our family, friends. Usually they are small, very small stakes pertaining to our local teams. Win/lose it’s fun competing. So, let’s see what kinds of BETS are brewing here!

…The info that I’m writing about below makes me sad. It concerns gambling in the NBA. NBA players are phenomenal athletes who are compensated VERY well for their work on the court (yea…it’s work to play your best 3 or 4 nights a week after traveling at all hours of the night & all around to get to the next opponent. They can’t “skip it” when they aren’t in the mood. But sadly, it seems to me, some NBA players are finding a new form of entertainment for themselves—BETTING!

… Why now?  Well, BETTING ON THE HIGHEST LEVEL in the NBA is being uncovered by authorities. In the last few weeks, federal prosecutors charged some current and some former NBA players/coaches for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in NBA games. Nice way of phrasing “BETTING”! According to the indictment, those involved in the scheme used confidential, “INSIDE” information to inform gamblers on upcoming NBA games in order to make a profit. (which they did).

…And…it wasn’t just on the point spread or on other team results. But, there was also BETTING on individual performances of some of the players!

…At the heart of this BETTING investigation is Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player/ast coach Damon Jones . They along with 34 other sports related people were part of a pair of wide-ranging investigations related to illegal sports betting backed by the Mafia. To me, that’s a VERY BAD scenario for the NBA.

…… Just  in the last days, or so, rumors have surfaced about an NBA Super-Star, LeBron James, being involved in two different gambling incidents in 23….

…The first incident occurred in January 2023 Jones, according to reports, told  1 of the  unnamed co-conspirators that a team trainer had informed him that two players—including James—would not play. James ended up playing that night, the Lakers won, and Jones was asked to repay the $2,500 he was allegedly paid to provide the information.

…The second incident took place on Feb. 9, 2023, when James missed a game against the Bucks due to injury. That morning, Jones texted a co-conspirator suggesting a bet on Milwaukee because a particular player—context makes clear it would be himself-LeBron James—would be out that night. The Bucks won 115-106.                                                                                                                                                                           ….A total of 34 people were arrested as the result of a yearlong investigation involving tens of millions of BETTING dollars on NBA games, FBI director Kash Patel said. Law enforcement officials indicated that multiple charges involved 4 Mafia families and several organized crime networks along with some NBA players!        

                                                                                                                                           …According to FBI director Kash Patel, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier seems to be at the focal point of a very sly, sneaky way of betting in the NBA. He’s accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using insider NBA information. As part of the scheme, gamblers used nonpublic information about players to bet on in at least 7 NBA games between March 2023 and March 2024. That “inside” info provided the gamblers an edge. The scary part to me was that betting on individual performances has now been introduced. Bets on the points, rebounds, even minutes played are now accepted by betters with the odds provided.                                                                                                                                …Cited as an example of this type of BETTING— Before a March 23, 2023, NBA game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Terry Rozier, who then played for the Hornets, allegedly told Laster, a childhood friend, that he would remove himself from the game in the 1st quarter due to a supposed injury, according to the indictment. Laster allegedly sold the information to two bettors for about $100,000.

…With that info, those BETTORS, along with their associates & network of proxy bettors, used that info to bet on Rozier’s “unders” (performing under his “average” number of points, rebound, etc.) All of this was according to the indictment. The money wagered was in the hundreds of thousands, according to the indictment. Many of the bets were “winners” after Rozier removed himself from the game after just 9 minutes, (there are 48 minutes in an NBA game) with 5 points, 2 assists and 4 rebounds.

…Basketball Gambling Bets may take on many different individual statistics, not just points scored. It could be on minutes played, points, shots taken, turnovers, rebounds, # of 3’s made, # of Free throws-attempted/made, etc, etc.  

…This BETTING is taking place in a league where the players are on the smallest roster of any professional team. The regular season NBA roster has up to 15 players on standard contracts, plus up to 3 players on 2-way contracts (meaning that they can play NBA ball, or when not needed in the NBA, they play on an affiliated G League team). That type of player spends the majority of their time in the G League. So, the team has a maximum of 18 players. During the offseason, the limit expands to 21 players. However, for most teams, the top 9 players gobble up most of the court time.

… I’d BET that most of you think of the NCAA as the “developmental” league for the NBA. The vast, vast majority of players go directly from NCAA competition to the NBA.  The average NBA salary is $11.8 million to $12.6 m, with the median salary being significantly lower at around $5.7 million to $6.7 million. Of course, the much higher average is due to league’s highest BIG-TIME salaries pushing the “average” way, way up. Meanwhile, the median number provides a more representative figure of what most players actually earn. However, the average length of an NBA basketball player career is only about 4.8 years.   The NBA doesn’t require the MLB’s “minor league” system of multiple levels due to the high skills & training of the NCAA college basketball players.

…You can BET that the NBA is very concerned about its league. Will fans start to have doubts when players “miss a game or 2” ?, have turnovers at key spots of the 5^th quarter?, miss a shot from a  moderate range at any part of the game ( I realize that they aren’t “perfect” but we do come to expect them to be perfect 😊). If you’ve seen any NBA games on the tube lately,you see that  they now shoot from way, way beyond the 3 point circle. In fact, it seems to me, that they are closer to the ½ court line than the 3 point line!! However, Gambling concerns could easily lead to doubts/head shaking by the fans. Once there are concerns about the legitimate performances of the players, the fans could begin slipping away from their interest and then, the NBA would be in deep trouble.                      

… Unfortunately, it seems to me from a far that these “gambling rumors” continue to develop.  That makes it worse & worse for the NBA. If it continues, the NBA could “stand for” a different acronym than National Basketball Association. In the future, it could  mean… NO BODY ATTENDS!!     

…Now… I’ll BET YOU that we’re moving out of gambling mode and into this week’s sports news/games…

… I BET that most of you were not surprised  that MU crunched Mississippi State 49-27 in a rare Saturday night game. But, it was a bit surprising though that Miss State scored that many points. The Tigers ran & ran & ran the ball “right at” the Bulldogs chewing up the time as Tigers Running back, Ahmad Hardy posted a career best 300 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns on 25 carries to lead the offense.

… Hardy had a personal chip on his shoulder. He said, ”I’m from Mississippi, a lot of teams didn’t recruit me coming out of high school including Miss State, so it was kind of personal for me.” His 300 yards rushing total is 2^nd best in Mizzou rushing yards for a single game! 2^nd only to Devin West’s 319-yard outburst versus Kansas in 1998 is better. West’s mark came when running the football far exceeded the number of passes thrown per game.

…I BET with that score that you didn’t realize that the Bulldogs (Miss St) dominated time of possession as they turned the tables on MU. Mizzou entered the game being 4th in the nation in ball possession with a mark of 34:02 minutes/game. However, it wasn’t the ball control, it was the turnovers that proved fatal for the Bulldogs and Mizzou took advantage of Miss St turnovers!! Mizzou scored 3 times after Miss State turnovers! That included a pick-6 (interception returned for a touchdown) by Toriano Pride. If you play “ball control” football like the Bulldogs, you simply can’t afford turnovers. The heavy dose of the “running game” really shortens the game. Remember, the clock stops on every incomplete pass. So…for teams that aren’t blessed with the best athletes, you try to shorten the game. But, the drawback, that type of offense isn’t built for late “come back” wins. So, once Mississippi State fell behind 35-24 after 3 quarters, the Bulldogs had to force, or hope for, MU turnovers. Which didn’t happen often enough for the Bulldogs!

…Mizzou’s last 2 regular season games are against Oklahoma (a very good 8-2, 4-2 SEC, team) and against the SEC cellar dweller, Arkansas 2-8 & 0-6 in SEC. Oklahoma is coming off a 23-21 win over Alabama. So, they should be “pumped up”. On the other side of the field, Mizzou is currently 3-3 in the SEC(tied for 8^th place with Tennessee) and 7-3 overall. I think it’ll be more of a challenge to “fire up” the Tigers. The Tigers already know that they’ll be “Bowl Bound” (even if they don’t know the exact bowl) but they are out of the running for the NCAA Championship Tournament of 12 teams with their 3 losses. The NCAA final tournament has really separated itself from the other bowl games in recognition, importance, recruiting benefits, etc, etc.
…In the wildest game of the week that had to be driving any folks crazy that BET on the game, a Texas A&M team, ranked #3 in the country, had a miraculous come-back win! A&M players must have not forgotten last year when Texas A&M had a 7-game winning streak entering the game against South Carolina before suffering a miserable 44-20 defeat! The 2025 game looked like it might be more of the same as Texas A&M trailed S. Carolina 30-3 at halftime!  That’s right 30-3! The 1^st half was a absolute nightmare for the Aggies—Seemingly Punt after Punt; Fumbles returned for touchdowns by SC; Missed field goals; Miscommunications on 3rd down defense! Failures were everywhere for the A&M Aggies.  AT this point, NO ONE was BETTING on A&M 😊 Things were so bad for them, I’m surprised that they actually found their way back to the locker room 😊

…I’m betting that none of you know the nickname of South Carolina, I sure didn’t….it’s….Palmetto State! A Palmetto is  a small palm tree.  I BET if you’re like me….you’re wondering…how did they get that name?  Well…here’s our history lesson for today…it dates back to the American Revolutionary war. During the Battle of Sullivan’s Island in 1776, a fort built from soft Palmetto logs successfully absorbed British cannon fire, allowing the South Carolinian defenders to survive that attack and then go on to win the battle!  Sooo…it became known as the Palmetto State!!

…But, The halftime adjustments by HC Mike Elko proved to be terrific. He decided to upgrade the tempo of the offense on each possession of the 2nd half-something that a team usually does when trailing late in a game. Often it’s referred to as the “2 minute offense”.  It really ignited the Aggie offense and they quickly “came alive”.  A&M amassed unbelievable offensive marks with nearly 300 yards of offense and 28 more points in the second half, ultimately winning the day and of course, the game!!!                                                                                                                                                                               …. …A key A&M factor was QB Marcel Reed, who threw for a career-high 439 yards and 3 touchdowns that pushed (or passed) the  #3 Texas A&M rally past the 27-point halftime deficit to keep A&M undefeated with a 31-30 victory over South Carolina on Saturday. WOW! A&M is now 10-0 (7-0 in conference).                                                                                                                                                    …Thanks for your time & read! Your thoughts on any of the topics are always invited! Please respond to any part of the REWIND. Agreeing with me isn’t necessary…YOUR THOUGHTS are!! Bob