The NBA has announced that it will prohibit award voters from placing bets on those markets, a move that has sparked emotions like "What took so long?" and "It was allowed?"

Reporter Jared Greenberg of "NBA on TNT" revealed the information earlier on Friday, referencing the league's communications office.

"NBA Award voters are now officially prohibited from making wagers on NBA Awards categories during any season in which they are voting, per @NBAPR,” wrote Greenberg in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Awards including Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, MVP, and the All-NBA teams, among others, were chosen by a panel of 99 representatives from the broadcast and print media during the 2023–24 NBA season. Ernst & Young LLP, an accounting firm, tabulated and audited the results.

There Are Valid Concerns Regarding NBA Awards Betting

Many of the comments on Greenberg's X article as of this writing indicated shock and/or dismay that voters who influence the results of the various NBA awards were ever permitted to make associated bets.

Although there has never been any evidence of chicanery in the NBA awards voting process, fans and certain media members like to discuss the winners of some of the major categories, like MVP, during each given season. For instance, it was frequently claimed that LeBron James could have won MVP in any given season during the height of his abilities. This also applies to Nikola Jokić, a top player for the Denver Nuggets, as of late. Though some supporters contend he ought to have won the top prize four times in a row, he has taken home the trophy three of the last four seasons.

Regarding the proposal to prohibit voters from placing bets on awards, this may turn out to be a wise geographic decision on the part of the NBA. Nineteen of the thirty teams in the league are based in states where it is legal to wager on sports. This covers 17 states, the District of Columbia, and Ontario, Canada.

Only months after former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was permanently barred from the league for allegedly tampering with the results of games in which he participated, word leaked out about the association's decision to prohibit voters from placing bets on the awards in which they have a vote in selecting the winners. The NBA did not disclose whether the controversy influenced the choice of winners.

NBA Is Still Linked to Video Games

Gaming connections can be seen all throughout the NBA. At least three teams' owners have a direct stake in the gaming industry. These include Tilman Fertitta of the Houston Rockets, Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Adelson and Dumont families, who own the bulk of the Dallas Mavericks. The largest individual shareholder of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) is Dr. Miriam Adelson.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, owned by Ted Leonsis of the Washington Wizards, was instrumental in introducing retail sportsbooks to a number of stadiums and arenas in the Washington, DC, area.

Players are permitted to invest in gaming enterprises under the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that was reached for the league last year. Speaking of the CBA, it has an impact on the awards scene because it requires players to participate in 65 games or more in order to qualify for MVP, All-NBA teams, and other major honors.