With the NFL in the background for a moment or two, MLB and the NBA can step forward into the sports spotlight for a while. And the two sports arrive at this opening in the fans’ attention with bad news. For baseball, there has been an ongoing trial of Yasiel Puig related to gambling violations; that trial ended last week, and Puig was found guilty and could face as much as 20 years in prison.
The charges in the case include obstruction of justice and lying to Federal investigators in matters dealing with a gambling ring. The case has been ongoing for quite a while; Puig is alleged to have begun his gambling activities as far back as 2019 and in 2022, Puig initially agreed to a plea deal where he would have been fined more than $50K and given probation in exchange for a guilty plea; but he revoked that agreement before it went in front of a judge – – so here we are. The evidence presented at trial points to Puig betting on sports but not on baseball; so that is why he has not been banned by MLB. According to evidence presented at trial, Puig placed around 900 bets – – and ran up a gambling debt of $300K – – with a bookie who was involved with an illegal betting ring.
A key element of Puig’s defense was that English is not Puig’s native language and that his lack of understanding of English made him confused as he answered the investigators’ questions. That sort of argument held up in MLB’s consideration of the Shohei Ohtani gambling matter; his interpreter was able to hide all those gambling losses from Ohtani due to language barriers. Obviously, that argument did not carry the day for Yasiel Puig. His attorney said they planned to “file post-trial motions” which I guess means they think the defense was wronged somehow in the trial. The actions involved here go back six of seven years so what’s another year or two added on now?
Meanwhile, over in the NBA, the sport can step out of the shadow of the NFL which has prevented much fan focus since the NBA season began in late October 2025. However, as it does so, it presents fans with about a half-dozen teams that are clearly tanking and not trying to win games.
- The Utah Jazz lost a game where none of the Jazz starters played in the fourth quarter.
- The Washington Wizards traded for Trae Young and Anthony Davis in the last couple of weeks and have shut down both players for the season.
- The Sacramento Kings have lost 13 games in a row.
And tonight, the Kings will play the Jazz in Utah in what might be hugely entertaining just to see who can tank better.
The obvious prize for tanking in the NBA is to get as good a representation in the draft lottery as possible because basketball is the sport where a single star player can make the greatest impact on team fortunes. And until and unless the NBA comes to grip with that reality, this situation will come about next year as it has this year and in the past. It is bad enough watching NBA games where the players on the floor are not giving 100% effort on every play; it is worse to see the subs on those teams on the court while the starters – – nominally the players the league wants to market to the fans – – sitting on the bench twiddling their thumbs.
How might the NBA resolve this recurring pustule on its visage?
- No team can be in the draft lottery two years in a row – – or maybe three years in a row?
- Have the 10 teams that are not in the playoffs set up in a bracket where the winner of that “bracket tournament” gets the #1 pick despite the regular season record? [Aside: If this happens, watch players like Trae Young and Anthony Davis have miraculous healing events take place in April.]
- It’s a shame there is no easy way to set up relegation out of the NBA and into something like the G-League because that would solve the problem very quickly.
Notwithstanding all the above, there is hope. Pitchers and catchers have been making their way to Florida and Arizona and Spring Training games will begin in about 2 weeks. Yes, I know that there will be loads of formulaic coverage of Training Camps and that much of the reporting from there is of no consequence, but Spring Training leads to Opening Day and that is always a welcome occurrence on the US sports calendar. Just a heads-up there:
- March 25: Opening Night. One standalone game Yankees at Giants
- March 26: Opening Day. Fourteen games that day as the other 28 teams get rolling.
Finally, here is an observation by Samuel L. Jackson:
“Anybody who tells you money can’t buy happiness never had any.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………