NBA arrests a sobering reminder of the pitfalls of sports betting

LOS ANGELES – The Timberwolves were grounded on an airport runway because of mechanical issues after their game against the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

For some staffers, that meant they got to bed Thursday as late as 5 a.m. after the team finally landed in Los Angeles ahead of Friday’s loss to the Lakers.

Some were asleep, but some were up when the news began to break early Thursday morning that federal investigators were charging Chauncey Billups, the coach of the team they had just played hours earlier, with alleged involvement in illegal poker games with members of the mafia.

Investigators also charged Heat guard Terry Rozier with allegedly manipulating the over-under individual player prop bets that are a staple of sports betting.

The arrests were a sobering reminder that the legalization of sports betting — and the willingness of all professional leagues to partner with sportsbooks — can come with potential consequences that affect the integrity of the game or put athletes and coaches in connection with the wrong people.

Wolves coach Chris Finch said before Friday’s game he didn’t want to comment on the specifics of Thursday’s arrests, but said that before every season, the league has a program with teams and players about gambling and its pitfalls.

“I can say the league informs us every year, we go through a program, we go through all the education around these issues,” Finch said. “So that’s at the moment what we’re all tasked with every preseason, and everybody completes it.”

If there is an area of the gambling world that can affect players, it’s their interaction with fans. Finch said the teams at least monitor if a fan becomes belligerent while attending a game.

“I do know that there’s been instances relayed to us or maybe even by colleagues where this is a looming issue, if you will, just the feedback or the comments from the fans about it,” Finch said. “But it’s just one more piece of the landscape out there surrounding this issue that you have to navigate.”

The NBA was among the first in American professional sports to embrace sports betting 11 years ago when Commissioner Adam Silver wrote an op-ed to the New York Times calling for the federal legalization of sports betting with necessary safeguards.

But even when bets are made legally, there can still be a mental and emotional toll players have to deal with when it comes to their interaction with fans in person or on social media.

“I remove myself from the social media world. I don’t really experience that aspect of it,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “I know a lot of guys’ experiences: DMs, messages and comments and stuff. I don’t necessarily see that. The most I’ll hear is from the first couple rows, coming off the court. Personally, it doesn’t bother me at all.”

“I’m just going out there to play, and I could care less,” he said.