Earlier this week, Miami Heat announced that they are expected to waive Terry Rozier ahead of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs. Rozier was arrested in October 2025 and charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. As it is alleged, he manipulated statistical outcomes while telling associates to bet the unders on his stat lines. Rozier is not the first player to have allegedly done this: Jontay Porter was banned for life from the NBA in April 2024 after the conclusion of the NBA’s investigation into him.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has woefully mismanaged the NBA’s relationship with gambling as he is seemingly obsessed with the ‘enshittification’ of the NBA. In the early days of any product or service, surpluses are directed to the consumer in order to draw in new customers. As ‘enshittification’ occurs, surpluses in value are redirected towards the supplier and then eventually the shareholders. Silver is on step three as he relentlessly chases marginal revenue increases at the expense of fans and players alike. Under the watch of Silver, the NBA has become a luxury product where basketball is secondary. When asked by a New York Times reporter about the rising cost of watching NBA games, Silver showed no concern about fans being priced out and instead pointed to platforms like TikTok and Instagram as a place where people can consume NBA content through highlight videos, stating, “This is very much a highlights-based league.”
For those lucky enough to watch games, be prepared to get bombarded with gambling everywhere you look. The gambling company FanDuel holds the regional broadcast rights to 13 NBA teams—including reigning champions Oklahoma City Thunder—whose games are shown on FanDuel Sports Network. Gambling has overrun every part of the broadcast and in-person viewing experience—and for what? Gambling partnerships only account for about one per cent of the NBA’s projected $14.3 billion USD revenue, despite how much they threaten the integrity of the game and the safety of players.
During a recent interview with the New York Times, Houston Rockets guard and NBA Players Association President Fred VanVleet aired his frustrations with the NBA’s gambling partnerships, saying that “a nice little campfire makes you feel warm. You got marshmallows and s’mores. But if it turns into a wildfire, that kind of feels like where we are right now.”
One of the problems VanVleet raised was fans confronting players after losing a bet. VanVleet shared that someone once confronted him about a bet during church. He also highlighted a high-profile incident in which an angry fan found Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III walking alone on the streets of New Orleans and cussed him out for not scoring 30 points the previous night, as the fan had put $3,000 USD on it. Reflecting on the incident, VanVleet said, “If Jimmy escalates that situation and somebody’s got a gun on him, that’s real.” He also commented on the additional revenue from gambling partnerships stating, “It’s not substantial enough to make it worth any of this. For us or for the league, quite frankly.”
Not only has the NBA’s embrace of gambling harmed the league, but it has also affected the young men who are its largest group of consumers. The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that roughly 15 per cent of men aged 18-34 in America are currently struggling with gambling addiction. Gambling addiction is not just a habit of silly little NBA bets; it is the addiction with the highest rate of suicide. Nearly one in 20 gambling addicts attempts suicide. Others destroy their credit, put themselves into life-altering debt, and ruin relationships with loved ones.
The NBA ought to be ashamed of the way they have helped fuel an epidemic of addiction, putting their athletes in harm’s way and making basketball secondary. If you ever find yourself placing a $3,000 USD wager on Jimmy Butler to score 30 in a regular season game, you can call or text 1-800-522-4700 in the United States or a provincial gambling support hotline in Canada.