Among the salacious and headline-grabbing allegations in the two indictments that came down against Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, among more than 30 others in a wide-ranging string of arrests against supposed mobsters and fixers, the Orlando Magic game that was flagged seems like a small thing.
The Orlando Magic's April 6, 2023, game against the Cleveland Cavaliers was tagged for unusual betting activity. The Magic, having been eliminated from playoff contention, decided to sit their starters and made the announcement fairly late in the day.
The indictment alleges that a co-conspirator used a personal connection to learn this information before it became public and told one of the defendants charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering to bet on the Magic while they remained favorites.
In the days since both Rozier and Billups were arrested, there has been a lot of hand-wringing and questions about the league and its relationship with gambling.
These problems and the potential for prop-bet fixing or even game fixing (the latter of which is not directly alleged by any of this) were easily foreseen when sports gambling became legal and the NBA (along with the other sports leagues) started partnering with them and advertising with them heavily.
It feels like there is some soul-searching going on as the league and its personnel reckon with the implications of this scandal.
The one thing that has become clear during the last few days, this issue is not going away. The question is more about how the league will
"You look at it and say, 'Woah,' as one part," coach Jamahl Mosley said after shootaround before Friday's game. "The other part is a lot of teams will be mentioned because of the way things are going on. This is what the nature of what the league has gone to with the gambling and the betting.
"It's not going away. Our ability to be educated in what's happening is the biggest thing. To be aware of the surroundings and who you are in contact with, I think that is always important pieces for each of us to understand."
League focused on education
The seeming message from the league is to stress the efforts they have made to try to educate their players about what to watch for to avoid the kind of insider trading that was at the center of this indictment.
Atlanta Hawks coach Quinn Snyder echoed the sentiment that the teams go through training and try to help players prepare for the kind of requests and information fishing that could lead them to help criminal enterprises unwittingly.
That appears to be what the Orlando Magic player identified as Player 2 in the indictment did. That act is not criminal. But the league is protective of the perception of its integrity. That certainly took a hit.
The Magic's statement regarding their inclusion in the indictment stressed the league's gambling education and protocols. They reiterated that they were unaware of any current players involved in this scandal, and they were not contacted by authorities.
All teams feel like they can do is try to prepare players for the pressures they will face.
"Every team in the NBA goes through the protocols of what's coming your way," Jamahl Mosley said after shootaround Friday. "The gambling, the tipping, the betting. We all get the notices. I talked to our team about it once again today [Friday], understanding the scenario and what's happening. They know and you know exactly what I know, only what's going on in the news right now. That's all we can give them."
The pressures from gambling are indeed front and center.
Players feeling pressure
While the league focused on the education coming from the league, the players seem to be more frustrated that they face these pressures to begin with.
Paolo Banchero was involved in a funny exchange with a Philadelphia 76ers fan during the preseason when a fan was urging him to score two more points so that he could hit his parlay. Banchero jokingly told him to calm down, it's the preseason.
That was probably the most diplomatic way to handle such a request. But NBPA vice president Jaylen Brown suggested interactions like that around gambling are a much more serious problem for players.
There has been ample reporting of players and coaches facing legitimate threats and needing extra security because of the ease of access and the interaction of gambling in the modern fandom. It is a new and more dangerous and pressure-filled world for NBA players.
The gambling relationship
This whole incident has brought the world of gambling and the relationship with the sport into the spotlight. It has made everyone question whether the sports leagues have let things happen too fast and too big with all the legal sportsbooks.
But, this is not going anywhere.
The league makes too much money from its partnership with the major sportsbooks. And Terry Rozier's suspicious activity was only discovered because of the league's sharing of information with the sportsbooks. They alerted the NBA to unusual betting activity.
In an ironic way, as much as the world is blaming legal sports gambling for opening Pandora's box, it is because of legal sports gambling that the league identified this potential fixing scheme. It is how the FBI discovered there was a larger criminal enterprise behind it.
"I think it's very important to continue to gather information to understand what's happening and how it's going on," Mosley said after shootaround Friday. "Us being the spokespeople of what's happening is you are encouraging people to get the education behind it and not just go for the quick hit. To understand exactly what the teams are trying to do and the way the league is trying to educate all of us.
"The sports betting and gambling, it's not going away because of the way we are as a league. I think it's important to keep our information pure and educate everyone on how it's happening and what's going on."
There is still a lot of information to gather. The NBA certainly hopes this is it and not the tip of the iceberg. But everyone is rightly on edge.
Perhaps changes are on the way -- such as the sports books only offering prop bets for established star players rather than end-of-bench players or requiring a minimum number of minutes to honor a prop bet offered.
Maybe that is asking too much for such a large financial enterprise.
But the league will have to redouble its efforts to prepare players for the pressures they will face. This is not going away.