NBA, NBPA Seek to Limit Available Betting Props amid Gambling Investigations

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association are reportedly in agreement that prop betting on individual stats should potentially be more restricted as sports betting continues to grow in popularity and make headlines.

"Protecting the integrity of our game is paramount, and we believe reasonable limitations on certain prop bets should be given due consideration," an NBA spokesperson said, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. "Any approach should aim to reduce the risk of performance manipulation while ensuring that fans who wish to place prop bets can continue to do so via legal, regulated markets."

An NBPA spokesperson also released a statement and said, "NBA players compete at the highest level with the utmost integrity and are concerned that prop bets have become an increasingly alarming source of player harassment, both online and in person. If tighter regulations can help minimize that abuse, then we support taking a closer look at them."

Prop bets in the NBA made national headlines last year when the league banned Jontay Porter, then of the Toronto Raptors, for life.

The NBA announced its investigation discovered Porter was responsible for "disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes and betting on NBA games."

It also said: "Porter limited his own game participation to influence the outcome of one or more bets on his performance in at least one Raptors game."

Porter was the most high-profile case, but Vorkunov noted NBA players Terry Rozier and Malik Beasley are also the subjects of federal investigations about sports gambling.

Then there is Major League Baseball, which made headlines of its own this year when the Cleveland Guardians placed pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz on leave because they were being investigated about sports gambling.

Prop bets in particular are a focus of NCAA president Charlie Baker, who has been public in his efforts to ban them when it comes to betting on college athletes.

With so many headlines in sports regarding the topic, it is not difficult to see why the NBA and the NBPA would be open to placing more restrictions on prop bets. That would make individual players less susceptible to abuse from frustrated fans who lost a bet and, ideally, decrease the ability for players to intentionally influence betting results with their own performances.