Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, other NBA players detail an ugly side of sports gambling
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Valentine's Day is tomorrow. If you haven't made arrangements and it's meaningful to your significant other, work a miracle. If you haven't scoped a flower situation, do that today. If you don't have to worry about any of that, don't let your Friday night involve the Celebrity Game at all. We're better than that, and I believe in us.
NBA bettors seem unhinged toward players
For years, the NBA has embraced gambling. From commissioner Adam Silver writing an op-ed about changing the U.S. sports gambling laws in 2014 to his league announcing co-sponsorships with FanDuel and DraftKings in 2021, the NBA has seen sports betting as a way to increase revenue and interest in the game. But as James Edwards III wrote in a great article, there is a very ugly side to how bettors react to losing.
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Players like Jalen Brunson, Isaiah Stewart, Josh Hart and more spoke on the record about the despicable messages they'll get on social media regarding bets that don't cash for certain 'fans.' From racist messages to mentioning family members/children to outright death threats, failed gamblers missing out on prop bets or game results are as brave as their anonymous social media accounts allow them to be. There's a lot of good insight in Edwards' article, but this particular quote from newly acquired Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma made me laugh.
'I don't really read the messages. It might be on Twitter. I think it's really funny, honestly, because, yeah, you can win money, but you're also wasting money, too, at the same time. It's funny because I said something the other day, and it's like we get threats and we get called names, and people never think about like maybe they're bad at picking the parlays?'
Maybe they're bad at picking parlays? It's such a funny reaction to some of the heinous stuff players are being sent. And it's true. Maybe those people are just bad at picking their parlays. I didn't gamble on sports even before I wasn't allowed to because of my job. I never felt comfortable with it. Remember the big scene in 'Uncut Gems' in which Adam Sandler's character bet on a ridiculous parlay? I know what happens in the movie now, and it still gives me anxiety to watch that.
Edwards wrote about how the league tries to monitor social media activity as much as possible, but there's only so much the NBA can do. Fans berating players over failed bets in the arenas isn't handled by team security. It's left up to arena security. It leaves me thinking about how the NBA is doing quite a bit to make sure this is something that adds to the experience, but they also need to prioritize protecting the players on some level. There were three other things from the article I absolutely loved:
I highly recommend reading it. And please, as Kuzma said, be responsible when 'picking the parlays.'
Clock ticking for Cleveland?
⏱️ Title window closing? Jason Lloyd says the Cavs (44-10) have three postseasons to win it all. Then, it gets messy.
🤝 Trade deadline wrap-up. John Hollinger ranked all 30 teams and how they did at the deadline. The Wolves finished second without making a trade.
🏀 Globetrotters history. Lynette Woodard debuted for the Harlem Globetrotters 40 years ago. She helped set an incredible legacy.
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🙃 Awkward return? Dalton Knecht reflects on returning to the Lakers after last week's rescinded trade with the Hornets.
⏰ Clutch-time struggles. Read about how Anthony Edwards is delivering everywhere for the Timberwolves — except in close games.
🏀 Kuminga's future. Jimmy Butler's arrival on the Warriors might have changed their future with Jonathan Kuminga. Will they still pay him?
📺 Don't miss this game tonight. Thunder (44-9) at Timberwolves (30-25), 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT. The Wolves just had an embarrassing home loss, and OKC comes to town.
Gamesmageddon: 30 teams, 15 games
There are nights in which the NBA schedule is kind of heavy, and you're wondering, 'How am I going to cover all of these?' You focus on what you can and then try to make up for what you missed the next day. Then, there are the rare nights like last night in which literally everybody played. All 30 teams in 15 games. Because that's how the math works out. I had the four-box going on the TV, a game on the iPad and a game or two on the laptop.
It was madness. But I think I was able to pull significant moments and things to know from all 15 matchups. Here's what you need to know from NBA Gamesmageddon!
Knicks 149 (36-18), Hawks 148 (26-29), OT: Ever since their playoff series in 2021, there has been a different energy when Trae Young comes to Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks. Once again, both sides delivered a truly awesome game. The Knicks were up six points with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter. A Georges Niang 3-pointer, Dyson Daniels steal, free throw from Daniels, Atlanta offensive rebound and two free throws from Young all of a sudden made it a tie game. It almost didn't make sense how it happened.
In overtime, Brunson hit a pull-up jumper with 11 seconds left for New York to go up one, and then, a Mikal Bridges block followed by a missed 3 by Niang secured the frantic victory for the Knicks. Karl-Anthony Towns had 44 points and 10 boards. Brunson added 36 points and eight assists. Five different Hawks scored at least 20, and Young finished with 38 points and 19 assists. Give us a playoff series of these two again, please.
Celtics 116 (39-16), Spurs 103 (23-29): Boston jumped on San Antonio with a 37-19 first quarter, and the Celtics never really had to look back too much. Jayson Tatum was fantastic with 32 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Victor Wembanyama had 17 points and 13 rebounds. The Spurs are 2-3 with De'Aaron Fox.
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Bucks 103 (29-24), Wolves 101: No Giannis Antetokounmpo. No Damian Lillard. This might be the worst home loss of the year for the Wolves. Never mind. I forgot the Wizards won in Minneapolis earlier this season.
Pacers 134 (30-23), Wizards 130 (9-45), OT: Jordan Poole had 42 points, but it wasn't enough to steal a win against Indiana. The Pacers got 59 points off the bench from Obi Toppin (31) and Bennedict Mathurin (28).
Pistons 128 (29-26), Bulls 114 (22-33): The Bulls were down by 49 to the Pistons in their last game. This is called progress! Chicago shot 19 of 88 from 3 in its last two games against Detroit.
Thunder 115, Heat 101 (25-27): The Heat were up by 10 going into the fourth. OKC opened the final period with a 24-0 run and won the quarter 32-8. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points in the game.
Nets 100 (20-34), 76ers 96 (20-34): No Joel Embiid. No Tyrese Maxey. Kelly Oubre and Quentin Grimes both had 30 points. It was not enough to beat Brooklyn, though. Philly, just tank the rest of the season and get Embiid the knee surgery he requires
The games never stopped, so we don't either!
We continue the Gamesmageddon recap with the Mavericks (29-26) hosting the Warriors (27-27) last night. The final 18 minutes of this game were pure chaos. A little less than halfway through the third quarter, Kyrie Irving had a stretch making three straight 3-pointers to push the Mavs to a 15-point lead. It looked like the Warriors were going to get dominated by the Mavs. There was no Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford or Dereck Lively II in this one. At times, there were lineups that made this look like a '6-foot-7 and under' league.
Eventually, the Warriors made a run and chipped away at this deficit to take the lead by one with 3:31 left in the game. It happened on Steph Curry's 3-pointer, as he and Jimmy Butler each scored 11 points in the fourth. But Irving kept scoring, Naji Marshall hit a big bucket to take a two-point lead with 25 seconds left and Irving took a charge against Butler on what would have been the game-tying drive. Irving finished with 42 points, and we got reports during the game that Mavs fans had 'Fire Nico' signs taken away, but the fans weren't ejected. Progress?
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Jazz 131 (13-40), Lakers 119 (32-20): Yes, Luka Dončić and LeBron James played. And the Lakers got smoked in the first three quarters. Lauri Markkanen scored 32 points as Walker Kessler added 16 points, eight boards and six blocks.
Rockets 119 (34-20), Suns 111 (26-28): Amen Thompson had a triple-double, Kevin Durant dropped 37 points and the Rockets shut the Suns' water off in the fourth with a 35-19 advantage.
Clippers 128 (30-23), Grizzlies 114 (36-18): The Clippers scored 41 points off 22 Memphis turnovers. The Grizzlies needed Ja Morant and some Stickum.
Nuggets 132 (36-19), Blazers 121 (23-32): Jamal Murray dropped 55 points on 20-of-35 shooting! We barely even noticed that Nikola Jokić had 26-15-10.
Magic 102 (27-29), Hornets 86 (13-39): The most exciting part of this game was Nick Smith Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope getting ejected right before halftime.
Cavs 131, Raptors 108 (17-38): Lopsided quarters ruled the night! Cleveland had a 41-17 first-quarter lead to put this one away early. Seven different Cavs scored in double figures.
Kings 119 (28-26), Pelicans 111 (12-42): The big three of DeMar DeRozan (24), Zach LaVine (23) and Keon Ellis (27 off the bench) carried Sacramento to the win. Whew! That was 15 games!
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The Orlando Magic originally planned to debut new uniforms at the beginning of the 2024-2025 NBA season, but when the time came to approve a final design to submit to the NBA, Shelly Wilkes, the team's executive vice president of marketing and social responsibility, and her staff were convinced they hadn't found what they were looking for just yet. Advertisement The Magic decided to go back to the drawing board. The new uniforms would be delayed to the 2025-2026 season, and one more year of planning would be added to a rebranding project that started in 2021. Charged with finding a new look for the future, the Magic realized a key element of the past, and a lack thereof, was holding their plans back. Three agencies helped the Magic with the uniform redesign. Focus groups that included hundreds of season ticket holders and influencers were formed. Surveys were sent out. And with all of that, one thing began to become very apparent. Through all of this, however the Magic were going to look on the court going forward with their new generation of stars like Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs, and Franz Wagner, it became clear that pinstripes — and not just any pinstripes, but bold pinstripes (the team's current uniforms featured very subtle pinstripes) — were part of the answer. 'When (the agencies) would leave the pinstripes out of the conversation and out of the design, it really was a bit lackluster,' Wilkes said. 'This is what we think we need and we even looked at interesting takes and it was like, no, let's just do what works. This works. We know (fans) love the bold pinstripes. It was really based on a lot of fan feedback, a lot of social listening and honestly, looking at sales data and what makes sense for the fanbase.' The Magic submitted its final uniform designs to the NBA in September of 2023. The results finally arrived for all to see last week when the team debuted a new trio of uniform options, none of which were lacking for pinstripes. There's the Association uniform, which is all-white with a 'Magic' wordmark with a star replacing the 'a,' the Icon, which is all-blue with an 'Orlando' wordmark with a star replacing the 'a,' and Statement, which is a blue/black combo with a 'Magic' wordmark and a star replacing the 'a.' The latter draws inspiration from the Magic's classic Champion warm-up jackets of the '90s and has a Jordan Brand logo instead of a Nike logo. The return of the bold pinstripes is a continuation of a trend the Magic helped start in the late '80s/early '90s when it became the second NBA team to feature pinstripes on their uniforms in its expansion year arrival in the 1989-90 season. The Charlotte Hornets debuted pinstriped uniforms the year prior during its 1988-89 debut season. The look became a staple for both teams and led to later looks of the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers during the '90s. Advertisement After so much time working on perfecting the look, Wilkes says her personal favorite is the jersey that has received the most 'mixed emotions' — the Statement jersey. 'I think it is going to be ranked as one of the best jerseys in the NBA once people start seeing it on court,' Wilkes said. Merchandising data showed that vintage Magic apparel, especially looks tied to the Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway era, always sold well, according to Wilkes. It served as an indicator as to what the fanbase favored from the past, present and toward the future. 🙄😬🥴😐🤓 #tbt — Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) May 16, 2019 'You realize how much passion there is around those particular uniforms and that we are one of the only teams that has pinstripes and just a realization of: let's own that. Let's take it and build our identity today around those pinstripes again,' Wilkes said. 'We were successful as well in the late 2000s with Dwight (Howard) and Jameer (Nelson), but people still hold on to the Shaq and Penny years and those references. And that is the image that comes into their mind around the success of the Orlando Magic and the excitement of the Orlando Magic, are those years. It's not only necessarily being (one of) the first (with pinstripes), but I think it truly is something that we as the Orlando Magic can own as part of our identity.' So why didn't the Magic just go back to the exact same classic look of its '90s uniforms if they are so popular with fans? NBA rules forbid it. Once an NBA team stops using certain uniforms, the licensing of them (which is owned by the NBA) reverts to NBA partner and famed throwback jersey maker Mitchell & Ness. The Magic can still wear its classic 'Shaq/Penny' uniforms for anniversaries, but not on a regular basis. Advertisement Wilkes prefers it that way, though, saying that focusing on a new look for a new generation of stars that drew inspiration from the past was the Magic's priority. Along with having a look that matched their current roster and how they play basketball. 'You can't just re-introduce the same exact direction. However, we also didn't want to. We knew it was a new time, a new era. This more modern, simple, clean design is where we were headed,' Wilkes said. 'A lot of people have so much passion about our original wordmark, and so do I, and I love it. It can also be maybe considered a little bit, not as bold or competitive. It's almost playful. It has character in that way. But I don't know that that's the identity of our team today. Our identity is around toughness, grit, hard work, that defensive mindset. And to put something that's almost a little whimsical as the wordmark of our uniform, that didn't feel right for the direction that we've taken on the court.' While the nostalgia factor is strong with the Magic's new uniforms, Wilkes doesn't just want fans not faking the funk on a nasty dunk or replaying Lil Penny commercials in their heads when they see them. She wants the Magic fanbase to have an eye toward the future as well. Pinstripes and all. Every Magic uniform has represented an era. O'Neal and Hardaway with the originals. Tracy McGrady and his pinstripeless stars. Howard and a new logo that followed the team into the Kia Center. And now these new uniforms representing the next generation of Orlando Magic basketball with Banchero, Suggs and Wagner. 'I don't know that I would say I want people to necessarily only think of Shaq and Penny. Sure they are going to. They are two of our biggest stars that have ever come through here. But, I think I want them to think about the success of the Orlando Magic and having the Orlando Magic in a pop culture conversation,' Wilkes said. 'Now we're at a new phase of this team and this new team needs a new identity. So we think we've hit the timing right. Because the only way (the new uniforms are) grabbing hold as much as it is is because we have built a team around Paulo, Franz and Jalen that people are excited about. You can see the future. You can see that we are building a winning team and that there is success on the horizon. And so I think that giving them their own era and their own identity is really core to making this successful.' Are bold pinstripes on the basketball court here to stay in central Florida? Wilkes says the younger generation of the DeVos family, who owns the team, grew up with the Magic and was a part of the creation of the new uniforms. Combine that with a passionate fanbase and it points to a likelihood of permanent pinstripes. 'If I'm here it's bold pinstripes from here on out,' Wilkes said while laughing. 'I think with (the DeVos family's) leadership…you'll continue to see bold pinstripes. It's part of who we are as an organization and I think it's important that we lean into that. And we can have fun with it. There's different ways that we can introduce pinstripes so keep your eyes peeled for future years and iterations of how we take this.' The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
