Boban, Jontay, and the NBA’s Very Telling Week

The National Basketball Association’s long and complicated relationship with legal sports betting had an informative few days last week.

Last Monday, East Coast social media woke to the story of a popular player intentionally failing to perform his best so he could produce a contrived outcome. This after telling future beneficiaries he would do so.

On Wednesday, the league announced that a previously nondescript player was banned for life for intentionally failing to perform his best to produce a contrived outcome. This after telling future beneficiaries he would do so.

This isn’t to say that Houston’s Boban Marjanovic tanking his second foul shot so the home LA Clippers fans could win a free chicken sandwich equates with Toronto’s Jontay Porter telling known gamblers he would pull himself out of games to secure the Under on prop bets on his stats.

Because it doesn’t.

Nearly completing the grand slam of NBA gambling forbiddens, Porter also bet on games against the Raptors at times and won around $21,000 before legal sportsbooks and regulators coalesced to discover him. If Marjanovic got one of those Chick-fil-A vouchers, there would be more outrage.

Probably not.

Hopefully not.

These two incidents should be considered together because of what didn’t happen. The kiln of outrage that is gambling Twitter and Discord could barely muster outrage over this most fowl shot. Yes, @BCakaTheMan was certainly agitated, but his screed about Overs and Unders in this benign Sunday night game was mainly met with derision and collective correction rare to social media.

Gambling partnerships and players intentionally missing FT’s. pic.twitter.com/dfFBJCLekg

— BC the Man (@BCakaTheMan) April 15, 2024

That’s not to say that @d0wnsideofme didn’t have a good point. It’s a bad look if you’re looking. But it doesn’t mean it’s nefarious.

Moreover, a national business media that is ever one incident from posting a thinkpiece on the alleged corrosive state of play for sports betting in the United States simply saw a cute story—about chicken. The goofy and affable Serbian saw his legend grow, and a bunch of Clippers fans got a sandwich.

Who are we?

When Boban does it everyone celebrates but when Jontay Porter does this they call the FBI. https://t.co/MYyXE1Vud2

— Jesse (@d0wnsideofme) April 15, 2024

Martin Lycka, SVP of American Regulatory Affairs & Responsible Gambling, Entain, said the key difference between the two incidents was Porter’s “pattern of malfeasance.” Porter’s banishment was about incidents. Marjanovic’s foul shot romp was one incident. And sports being fun.

“My view is that the Clippers should have never put Boban or anyone else into this position,” Lycka told Gaming Today. “At the same time, to make it slightly circular, the teams should know better in this day and age and realize that what may appear to be an innocuous in-stadium promotion may have wider (and possibly nefarious) ramifications.”

NBA Pivots from Porter, Gambling Content Still Forefront

The NBA has moved on with business as usual, treating Porter’s as a piece of business that’s been completed using a system that performed flawlessly. That is crucial as its gambling partnerships continue to produce revenue, and the NBA needs to amplify the narrative that a legal, regulated sports betting market is positioned to root out players who might repeat Porter’s mistakes.

As industry observer Dustin Gouker noted in his The Closing Line substack: “If the NBA is going to rein in gambling promotion in the wake of the Porter incident and other negative news around sports betting, there’s not any evidence of that in the short term.”

If NBA players didn’t understand the league’s gambling rules before – inexcusable considering the amount of training the league and player union mandate – they certainly should now.

They’ve learned that perception matters, at least in terms of choosing words.

“I’m bettin on the Pels. I’m NOT betting! No Jontay Porter.”

Larry Nance had to catch himself real quick
pic.twitter.com/VPLcrjqxMY

— PropSwap (@PropSwap) April 20, 2024

Porter has become a pariah and the nameplate for ignominy in the NBA, until the next scandal. There will be one because NBA teams are comprised of humans.

Weirdly, it’s important that there is another, if for no other reason, to prove the system works. And again demonstrating the difference between the truly horrid act of corrupting a sport for financial gain and giving ’em the chicken.