Nice try, Giannis. But that’s not a real rebound.
Welcome to the Winner’s Circle, a weekly column by Bet For The Win senior writer Prince J. Grimes.
Update: The NBA rescinded Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 10th rebound after this was originally published.
With the clock winding down on a win for the Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo softly threw the basketball off the rim and caught his own “missed shot” for rebound No. 10 of the game.
The move officially gave him a triple-double on the night and is predictably drawing a strong response from people on social media who find his stat-padding to be cheap and unbecoming of an NBA player. Let us not forget how bad former Cavaliers guard Ricky Davis was ripped for a failed attempt at something similar in 2003 — or the Hawks’ Bob Sura a year after that.
However, where Antetokounmpo will find support for the move where those before him couldn’t at the time is from a flourishing community of legal sports bettors, some of whom needed that 10th rebound for a payday.
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“I was thinking about scoring the ball, but I feel like in those situations it’s best to kind of keep the ball,” Antetokounmpo said after the game. “But yeah, I just try to play the game smart and kind of stole one.”
Whether intentional or not, Antetokounmpo made himself a man of the people — the wagering type. As such, he didn’t likely leave many happy people on the side of sportsbooks — and by extension the NBA. Which will make it very interesting to see how the league handles this.
Both Davis and Sura had their 10th rebounds wiped out by the NBA of David Stern’s reign as commissioner. Davis because his shot attempt was at his own rim, which violated NBA rules and actually got him fined by his own team. Sura because the NBA didn’t consider his shot to be a genuine attempt at making a field goal.
The league could make the same ruling Monday, and it should.
Look, on its face, I don’t care about what Antetokounmpo did. After all, he put himself in position to notch the triple-double by playing hard for a win the entire game, recording 23 points and 13 assists. That’s what allowed him to dribble out the clock and get a cheap rebound in the end.
However, sports betting introduces an ethical component that the league would be wise to get in front of to make sure these things don’t become more rampant and happen in less ideal moments. Too many people are paying attention for a precedent to be set that players can blatantly pad stats. On the other end of people who bet the over on Antetokounmpo’s rebounds are people who took the under.
Sports betting aside, it’s just bad optics for the NBA. Players can care about their individual stats while still wanting to win — and most probably do — but the league doesn’t want it to be so obvious. Also, let’s be real, that’s not a rebound.
Antetokounmpo doesn’t need to be lambasted or fined or anything. I appreciate the attempt. Nice try buddy. But that extra rebound shouldn’t stand.
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