Hall of Fame basketball player Carmelo Anthony said Thursday, in the wake of bombshell indictments detailing illegal NBA betting, that the rapid rise of sports gambling is putting growing pressure on today’s athletes.
Speaking with CNBC Sport, the former New York Knicks star said the betting culture “mentally affects” players.
“They may say they don’t care … but they care about it, because it affects them,” he said.
On Thursday, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were separately arrested following investigations into alleged insider bets on basketball games. Anthony was not involved in the case.
The 10-time NBA All-Star, who retired in 2023 and now works as a broadcaster for NBC, said he’s concerned about how gambling is “changing the narrative of the game.”
“Just because you bet on 25 points, and I got 22 points, now you look at me differently. Now I’m losing my skill set,” he said.
Anthony spoke to CNBC from Baltimore, Maryland, where he’s on hand for the opening of The House of Melo exhibit at the Enoch Pratt Free Library that will chronicle his career.
Anthony added that he expects consequences to follow the latest allegations.
“There needs to be some ramifications around what’s going on. I’m sure the powers that be are looking into that,” he said.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.