NBA players wager high stakes

Players who make an average of $4.9 million U.S. a season can afford to cover their betting losses, but animosity can fester when debts aren't settled on time, reports Scott Soshnick.

High-stakes betting is commonplace in the league, whose playoffs started Saturday. Disputes over IOUs have even led to fisticuffs. Whether it's trick shots at practice, dice on the team plane, or poker -- which participants say sometimes results in pots topping $40,000 -- NBA players from an array of teams say they have a penchant for wagering.

Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik, the league's second-in- command, declined to comment on the betting.

Players say it fosters camaraderie. It also helps kill time for athletes who spend countless hours in hotels during the 82- game NBA season. "Everybody knows it's going on," says Brian Scalabrine, 27, a forward with the New Jersey Nets.

Five-card stud was the game of choice for the 2000 Indiana Pacers. "Poker was a big thing. It brought us all together," says Travis Best, a former Pacer who now plays alongside Scalabrine. "I've seen some $40,000 pots."

Bets among NBA players, who earned an average of $4.9 million this season, usually are covered with IOUs. Animosity can fester when debts aren't settled on time.

"Everybody has the ability to pay," says 11-year veteran Eric Piatkowski, a forward with the Chicago Bulls. "I can't imagine a teammate not settling up. It would blow my mind."

Yet, that's what happened in 2000, when Philadelphia's Tyrone Hill and Toronto's Charles Oakley quarreled over an unpaid debt.

As Oakley told it in an April 8 interview at Madison Square Garden, a game of dice left Hill more than $60,000 in debt. Oakley slapped Hill in the face before a preseason game, then hurled basketballs at him before a regular-season contest. The NBA fined Oakley $10,000 and suspended him one game for the ball-tossing episode. Neither player was disciplined for betting.

"Some guys don't pay," said Oakley, 41, now retired. "It's just one of those things you have to deal with."

At the time of the incidents, Hill, who retired last season, said only that the squabble was a personal matter. Mark Bartelstein, Hill's agent, said his client wouldn't comment further.

The major U.S. professional leagues -- the NBA, National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League -- bar players from betting on their sport or associating with known gamblers. Baseball banned all-time hits leader Pete Rose for life for betting on games.

Still, says NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, "if an individual racks up high gambling debts, that would be a concern."

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