Metta World Peace Says He Was Offered $35,000 To Throw A College Basketball Game

ItalianStallion7 years ago

Earlier this week, gambling became legal at the federal level and I’m still on cloud nine. Who knows, maybe I’ll win enough to pay back my student loans. Plus, this is all possible because my great home state of New Jersey challenged the national ban on sports gambling. You’re welcome for that, America.

Not everyone is as excited as me about sports gambling. Among the buzzkills against the move were the NCAA. Granted, you can’t blame them that much, especially after a year of college basketball scandal after college basketball scandal. Relax, NCAA, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, according to NBA Legend Metta World Peace, a lot. A lot can go wrong.

From Yahoo Sports:

“I see the issues with betting, and I’ve been approached in college,” he said. “I got approached a couple times to throw games. The one interesting time, they come to me in my neighborhood and said, ‘Hey, I got $35,000 for you.’ I’m like, ‘All right, that’s cool, I’ll take $35,000.’ They said, ‘We need you to throw a game.’ That’s when I’m like, ‘You [expletive].’ But it crossed my mind — $35,000 to throw a game? Not bad.

First off, I can’t imagine what it’s like to bet $35,000 at once. I’m usually the kind of guy who can only afford to stay at the $5 blackjack table. Secondly, you don’t have to agree with this guy, but you got to respect him a bit. This dude has got some balls going up to a certain-to-be drafted, soon-to-be superstar athlete and personally try to rope him into some Pete Rose shit. That takes guts.

If my storied intramural career taught me anything, it’s that I absolutely suck at basketball. If he needed someone to lose a basketball game, I could have done it for a lot cheaper than $35,000. And since I naturally suck, no one would have thought anything suspicious.

“But that’s the problem. They find these kids that don’t have any money, and they attack them. What if I was some kid that was a little scared, like, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ That’s the problem I have with betting, because these guys who are betting, they’re bullies. Some of them are bullies. They’ll force a kid into a situation, and then when the kid’s trying to go to the NBA, they hold it against the kid.”

He’s gotta a point there; you can never underestimate what broke college kids will do for money. Fuck, there’s some shit I would have done in college for $20 that would have landed me in jail, on Fail Friday, or both. Add into the mix that student-athletes who aren’t allowed to make money and it sounds like an ESPN 30 For 30 about scandals waiting to happen.

Will this compromise the integrity of college athletics? Maybe. Is that going to stop me from sitting with a cold Corona in my hand betting on the Stanley Cup final? Absolutely not..

[via Yahoo Sports]

Image via Shutterstock