The J

You know what really grinds NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s gears? Gambling. But turn on any NBA game, and this won’t seem like the truth at all. Whether it’s a game streamed on FanDuel Network, a DraftKings pre-game segment, or an ESPN broadcast that has ESPN BET splattered around the screen, gambling has officially become unavoidable.

Speaking of unavoidable, 2025 has been a monumental year for insider sports gambling. The most recent case is the FBI-led investigation that caught NBA Hall-of-Famer and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and longtime NBA player Terry Rozier in the headlights of a massive gambling ring. Silver’s response came during an NBA on Prime broadcast in the tunnel at Madison Square Garden, where the commissioner said, “I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”

What the commissioner’s stomach pit failed to realize was the sheer irony of his live-on-air announcement. One of NBA on Prime’s marquee sponsors is none other than FanDuel, one of the nation’s leading sports gambling sites. In their preseason announcement for the partnership, FanDuel stated, “By integrating custom content into Prime Video’s NBA broadcasts, we will enhance the fan viewing experience and connect with new audiences.” Do not fear! That custom content that they mention is also noted later in the statement. “In addition to tracking personal bets, an immersive Odds View experience (available on supported devices) can be activated that presents a rotating feed of live odds, lines, and probabilities associated with popular bets, including money lines, spreads, totals, player props, parlays, game props, and more.”

Adam Silver and the NBA aren’t just trying to sell you the game anymore. They’re trying to sell you a brand-new generation of basketball fans to sink their money into simultaneously gambling on the games. Yet, even with this insane volume of gambling advertising, any player who dares to go near a sportsbook will get slapped with a lifetime ban.

The NBA isn’t unfamiliar with gambling as a whole. There is still a cohort of people who believe that Michael Jordan’s two-year break from basketball was a secret punishment for off-court gambling antics. Yet, in the late 90s there also wasn’t a simultaneous ad for $100 in bonus bets right after Phil Jackson calls time.

There’s a larger issue here. Obviously, sports gambling sites specifically target the same demographics as these sports broadcasts. Much of this demographic comes in the form of young men. Think about it this way: The NBA wants to grow the game. The best way to do that is to market to young people. The NBA has been one of the most effective at doing this. Think the cultural impact of LeBron James’ dominance or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s aura is happenstance? Absolutely not. It has been a constant push to be an active presence on social media, video games, and other digital mediums. Now, take that young audience that you have effectively cultivated and sell half of your advertising slots to gambling sponsors. Does something feel off? I’d hope so. For Adam Silver, though, it’s business as usual.

Silver says players gambling on games gives him a pit in his stomach. But what he fails to acknowledge is that they are simultaneously sitting on a ticking time bomb. What happens when the young kids who are watching these broadcasts get to the NBA, where they can directly affect lines and props? What happens when kids like Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, or Kevin Durant, all of whom come from poor one-parent households, get a chance to tell their friends to bet on their ‘under’ for just one game? What happens to the integrity of the game then?

The NBA has a choice to make. Continue the endless stream of gambling ads, polluting the minds of the game’s youth (including those who will one day make up the very league they now watch), and rake in the short-term profits. Or, scrub the ads, promote the love of the game itself, and find real sponsors for a product that just attracted more than 60 million viewers last month. Want to market to the youth? Great. But taking constant gambling sponsorship and acting surprised when it bites the ‘integrity of the game’ is a disaster waiting to fully strike.

FanDuel, Marlboro—who cares? For Adam Silver and the NBA, the money is still green.