Rumors

The second-round odds look more like a No. 16 vs. No. 1 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  The Lakers open the series as +945 underdogs. Some books even pushed it to +1000. The Thunder are -1700 favorites. That means you’d have to lay $1,700 on OKC to win the series just to win $100. Those opening lines are unprecedented for the Lakers’ franchise. According to Sports Odds History, the Lakers have never been this big of an underdog in a conference semifinal in the NBA’s modern era. And maybe not in any era!

New York Post

The NBA asked the nation's top commodities regulator Thursday to impose tighter restrictions on players, game officials and team staff to ensure prediction markets don't undermine sports integrity and fan confidence. Dan Spillane, the NBA's executive vice president and assistant general counsel, wrote in a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that the integrity concerns posed by prediction markets are similar to those associated with sports betting.

ESPN

Federal prosecutors intend to bring new charges against Terry Rozier related to their sports gambling case against the NBA player and others. A lawyer in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York said Monday that it intends to file a superseding indictment against Rozier alleging that he “solicited and accepted a bribe.”

New York Times

Cyro Asseo: Pat Riley on players gambling: "The most stupid thing that a player could do. Absolutely just stupid. I hate to use that word but it's the worst thing that any NBA player...when you get in bed with them as a league... with gambling sites.. to me that's a contradiction"

x.com

David Payne Purdum: Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to charges in an NBA betting case centered on the alleged sharing of inside information and another case centered on allegedly rigged poker games.

x.com

While guard Terry Rozier remains on the Miami Heat’s roster, his release is expected in the coming weeks. Rozier likely won’t be on the Heat’s postseason roster, according to a league source.

Miami Herald

With Rozier away from the team and not expected back this season in the wake of his Oct. 23 arrest stemming from a federal investigation into illegal gambling, the Heat is expected to waive Rozier before the end of the regular season to open a roster spot to add a player for depth in the postseason.

Miami Herald

One of the reasons the Heat hasn’t yet released Rozier — even though he can no longer be used in a trade since the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline already passed — is because it doesn’t feel the immediate need to add a replacement player because of its current depth. Even with some injury issues along the way, Heat players who were once in the rotation earlier this season like Nikola Jovic, Simone Fontecchio, Dru Smith and Myron Gardner have recently had their playing time cut with the roster moving closer to full health.

Miami Herald

In an Instagram story on Friday, which included a screenshot of the email, Nina Westbrook tied the hostility to the growth of gambling culture, which has coincided with increased vitriol toward players and their families across sports. The Athletic could not independently verify the authenticity of the email. An email message sent to the sender’s address in the screenshot went unanswered. In the expletive-laden message, the writer said Russell Westbrook “sucks to fckn bad can’t even get 10 points is pathetic I hope you both die in a car crash dumb b—-.”

New York Times

“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. It’s something my husband and I consider routine. With that said, I’m sharing this now because I’m growing increasingly concerned for athletes,” she wrote, citing her experience as a licensed marriage and family therapist. “I felt it important to highlight the effects that sports betting has on individuals and how it puts athletes and their families in potentially dangerous positions.”

New York Times

As federal prosecutors continue to investigate possible illegal sports gambling on NBA games, they are looking into additional games beyond the seven contests named in a Department of Justice indictment this fall.

New York Times

“The government has ongoing investigations,” David Berman, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, said in court last week. “And our understanding is the defendant has conducted himself in similar manners in other instances as well.” It is not known how many games are being investigated, or if there are other NBA players who may be implicated.

New York Times

Timothy McCormack, a self-proclaimed gambling addict, received a two-year prison sentence Wednesday as he became the first defendant to be sentenced for his role in a sweeping conspiracy involving NBA players Terry Rozier and Jontay Porter.

ESPN

Barry Jackson: Per source, one reason why the NBA hasn't terminated Rozier contract and given Miami cap space (unlike what it did with J. Porter) is the league has not been given access to whatever evidence the feds have in their charges against Rozier. So NBA has no evidence to overturn its previous conclusion that Rozier did nothing wrong. Heat operating under belief it can trade him as a cap facilitator.

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