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David Purdum
The NBA is attempting to reduce the value of inside information and combat performance manipulation as it reacts to the federal indictments of a current player, a head coach and a former player in gambling cases, according to a memo sent to all teams Friday.
The league is considering potential policy changes to address tanking, increase the frequency of injury reporting and restrict what sportsbooks offer, according to the memo.
The league solicited input from teams and reviewed a set of proposed changes with the NBA board of governors before identifying six areas for potential change, according to the memo, which was obtained by ESPN. In addition to tanking, injury reporting and prop bets, the league plans to upgrade its education program on gambling, adopt new measures to protect players, coaches and team personnel from harassment from sports bettors, and enhance its ability to investigate unusual betting activity, the memo states.
Veteran guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former player and assistant coach Damon Jones were among 34 people arrested in October and charged in a pair of federal indictments involving sports betting and allegedly rigged poker games. Federal prosecutors accused Rozier and Jones of supplying bettors with nonpublic information regarding injuries. Billups is charged only in the poker indictment, but an unnamed coconspirator with career details matching those of Billups is accused of providing a bettor with nonpublic information about the Trail Blazers in the sports betting case.
Teams will be required to submit injury reports on game day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time and then update public injury reports on NBA.com every 15 minutes, rather than hourly, the memo states. The memo did not specify when the new policy would take effect.
To address tanking, a term used to describe teams prioritizing draft position over winning, the league is considering modifying its rules regarding draft pick protection and the draft lottery, according to the memo.
Prosecutors allege that the coconspirator matching Billups’ description told a bettor that the Trail Blazers would be tanking and resting star players ahead of a March 2023 game against the Chicago Bulls, before the information was made public.
«This review remains ongoing and we will continue to solicit input from relevant team stakeholders as this work proceeds,» the memo states regarding policy changes to address tanking.
The NBA plans to advocate for further restrictions on prop bets — wagers on the statistical performance of individual players — including how much can be wagered, limitations on «under» bets, reducing the number of players offered by sportsbooks and eliminating bets that could be determined on a single play.
«Core to the NBA’s position is that sports leagues should have control over the types of bets offered on their games,» the memo states. «Because leagues currently do not have such control, any changes will need to be pursued via negotiation with sports betting operators, requests to state gaming regulators, legislative action, or some combination of these avenues.»
FanDuel and DraftKings are official gaming partners of the NBA, and approximately 10 other betting operations have partnerships with the league.
ESPN’s Shams Charania contributed to this report.
