[JoJo5473]

I have been betting on the NBA for only a handful of years but still have seen enough games in which good home teams, having won the last couple of games and built good momentum going into the game, supposedly well rested and with no significant injuires, lost to teams who were bad on road, playing the 2nd of back to backs and even without a couple of its key players. Some of those game were even blowouts. Sometimes the favourites just showed no energy or sense of urgency at all and did not even appear to be embarrased playing that badly.

This made me wonder if NBA players sometimes take bribes from big time gamblers to intentionally not play at their best to cover the point spread, which is known as "point shaving" and is common in NCAA basketball. However, on another thought, NBA players, especially the star players, are paid tens of millions of dollars a year so for point shaving to work, a huge amount of bribe has to be paid to the them, which made bribing almost economically infeasible. (The players who earn significantly less usually have significantly less impact on the game and I assume it is kind of useless to bribe them.) But this logic is based on the assumption that a player who takes bribes and gets involved in point shaving is punished heavily if his action is found, for example, a heavy fine and long suspension, if not, players would be more easily lured into point shaving. So my question is: what punishement is incurred if an NBA play is found taking bribes and point shaving? Career ban? Cancellation of his contract? I read from somewhere that NBA players are not allowed to bet on games they play but teams and the league often turn a blind eye on players betting on other games not involving their own teams.

My question is only about players taking bribes, not about referees' involvements in betting scandals ( I am aware of the Tim Donaghy incident) or the league manipulation on games to extend a playoff series to boost tickets sales (like what might happened in game 6 of the Lakers vs Kings series in 2002)

Someone please enlighten me.

[shimeon40]

Lakers seem to check spreads at halftime..who else?..there are others

[JoJo5473]

Are you serious or joking?

[brainfreeze0]

I think hes serious

[lunchbawks]

No chance NBA players would risk it. Stern and the refs are the only ones rigging games

[Tomasaurus]

Lol your an idiot, and the punishment is life ban and possible (probable) jail time

[MrXYZ]

Check out this from the Heat vs Hawks game.

[JoJo5473]

Lakers seem to check spreads at halftime..who else?..there are others

Can you elaborate? Do the lakers "point shave" their own games?

[JoJo5473]

Lol your an idiot, and the punishment is life ban and possible (probable) jail time

Are you sure it's life ban? where did you get that information?

[JoJo5473]

Check out this from the Heat vs Hawks game.

Sorry from where I am I am not able to view the video, what's in it and what point are you making?

[1brokegirl]

the way these dudes live off the field er the game i betcha they can be manipulated because someone has the dirty on them

[Tomasaurus]

Are you sure it's life ban? where did you get that information?

Points shaving is a criminal offence and if you google it quite a few people have done time for it over the years. Jimmy Bruke from Goodfellas fame was sentenced to 20 years as a result of points shaving related crimes in college basketball and Tim Donaghy got 15 months for match fixing. As for the ban, of course its life ban you idiot, what you think you can fix a game and just get suspended for a few games or pay a fine, even though if found guilty you could face years in prison. Of the 12 players ever given life bans from the NBA 8 of them are due to points shaving based crimes.

Reading your OP again I have to think you are trolling, I mean no one can really be this dumb to think that the reason favs lose games when their at best what a 80-90% fav is because the game is fixed. I like how you say "Point shaving is common in NCAA basket ball", like it happens every god dam day.

[vaas187]

Points shaving is a criminal offence and if you google it quite a few people have done time for it over the years. Jimmy Bruke from Goodfellas fame was sentenced to 20 years as a result of points shaving related crimes in college basketball and Tim Donaghy got 15 months for match fixing. As for the ban, of course its life ban you idiot, what you think you can fix a game and just get suspended for a few games or pay a fine, even though if found guilty you could face years in prison. Of the 12 players ever given life bans from the NBA 8 of them are due to points shaving based crimes.

Reading your OP again I have to think you are trolling, I mean no one can really be this dumb to think that the reason favs lose games when their at best what a 80-90% fav is because the game is fixed. I like how you say "Point shaving is common in NCAA basket ball", like it happens every god dam day.

amen. it would be more common the smaller you go, i.e. inter-city ball or soccer and some of these very stupid small league because it's easier to pay those athletes but in pro sports, hardly. im tryign to find some sake for his argument

[smarotta09]

Baseball Lol Pete rose ...

[RavensFan2k3]

Sorry from where I am I am not able to view the video, what's in it and what point are you making?

There was a bad pass by Lebron, and it was going out of bounds. Then it looks like the ref kicked the ball to keep it in bounds for the Heat player to get it

[upscope]

Fixer: "LeBron, let's pick UP a few xtra bucks"
LeBron: "Sounds good to me. I'm behind on my bills & my 19m/per isn't cutting it. Plus my 100m/per in endorsements doesn't show UP till the end of the month. Wha'd ya have in mind.
Fixer: "We'll, just make sure you don't win tonight's game by more than 9 & i'll hook you UP w/ a little sumin' sumin'....."
LeBron: "Could u define sumin' sumin'"
Fixer: "How bout 2 hundred fitty bucks?"
LeBron: "How bout 3?"
Fixer: "I would man, but between my 3 bookies the most I can get down on the game is 7 hundy."
LeBron: "I'm gonna need $300 cause I have to throw DWade $50 to make sure he doesn't do something stupid @ the end of the game like make a shot or something."
Fixer: "Good point. I guess I'll do $300 then."
LeBron: "Thanx alot man, you have no idea how much you're helping me out in these tough times"
Fixer: "No problem"

[Eagles27]

It definitely happens, but not as frequently as people think (at least thats my take on it).

[italianbandit]

Players are not involved, its all about the refs.

[Slimpickens]

NBA players even the ones making the least amount of money make way to much money to consider doing this.

[Eagles27]

NBA players even the ones making the least amount of money make way to much money to consider doing this.

Its all about greed man, if a player can make an extra 1-2 mil a year shaving points, you think they wont do it? In my opinion, I don't think players shave points in regards to final outcomes, but instead maybe 1st half bets, 2nd half bets... something that is not as noticeable. Who knows though, its not far fetched though. Lots of money in gambling.

[Slimpickens]

Its all about greed man, if a player can make an extra 1-2 mil a year shaving points, you think they wont do it? In my opinion, I don't think players shave points in regards to final outcomes, but instead maybe 1st half bets, 2nd half bets... something that is not as noticeable. Who knows though, its not far fetched though. Lots of money in gambling.

Wouldnt the person "fixing" the half or whatever bet would have to be a major player on the team. There not gonna pay some bum who doesnt get minutes. So it would have to be a starter and they simply make too much money to risk this. College B-ball odviously is a total different story.

[Eagles27]

Wouldnt the person "fixing" the half or whatever bet would have to be a major player on the team. There not gonna pay some bum who doesnt get minutes. So it would have to be a starter and they simply make too much money to risk this. College B-ball odviously is a total different story.

Depends, could be a point guard, I'd say stars are probably less at risk of being caught though, because lets face it. If Lebron got caught helping to try and fix a half or quarter, do you really think Stern is going to make an example of him? Nope, they will look the other way. I think on any given day, someone, somewhere on the floor will be trying to manipulate the game to favor some type of betting outcome. Like I said, betting is a billion dollar per day industry (its global). Some of these players make 3-4 mil per year, but have houses, cars, wives, in other words, manage their money poorly, so its not too far fetched that some players would engage in this type of activity from time to time.

[lewsparks77]

why the fuk would you need to take a bribe when you make 15 million a year?

[JoJo5473]

Points shaving is a criminal offence and if you google it quite a few people have done time for it over the years. Jimmy Bruke from Goodfellas fame was sentenced to 20 years as a result of points shaving related crimes in college basketball and Tim Donaghy got 15 months for match fixing. As for the ban, of course its life ban you idiot, what you think you can fix a game and just get suspended for a few games or pay a fine, even though if found guilty you could face years in prison. Of the 12 players ever given life bans from the NBA 8 of them are due to points shaving based crimes.

Reading your OP again I have to think you are trolling, I mean no one can really be this dumb to think that the reason favs lose games when their at best what a 80-90% fav is because the game is fixed. I like how you say "Point shaving is common in NCAA basket ball", like it happens every god dam day.

Of 12 players given life bans from the NBA 8 of them were point shaving, where did you get that information? Is there an article on this?

I attached an article on point shaving in NCAA basketball, it's a lot more common than you may think.

[Riceboi]

could happen but at least it's less likely than in college bball where the students are usually poor, which is why I don't bet college sports.

[prop215]

What about prop bets? Someones boy calls athlete x an says they got you at 20 points 2nite...i need you to go over!