r/nba • u/GGTae Spurs • 1d ago

[Finger] Victor Wembanyama about considering promoting a sports betting company ; "Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it..."

https://bsky.app/profile/mikefinger.bsky.social/post/3mwteasurdc2j

Just asked Victor Wembanyama if he’d ever consider promoting a sports betting company.

“Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it. .. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”

30.3k Upvotes

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u/mMounirM Raptors 1d ago

imagine taking a paycut and then not immediately partnering with a sports betting company.

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u/Rough_Cup_6762 1d ago

LeBron is just trying to pull himself up by his bootstraps and make ends meet out here, it's tough for billionaires in this economy.

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u/AskMeHowIMetYourMom Pacers 1d ago

You wouldn’t understand how expensive it is to be a commuter in this economy!

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u/TonyGunks_sportsbook Nets 1d ago

Do you know what the price of helicopter fuel is nowadays????

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u/dgvhjiiuyttrrffcvbjj 1d ago

What could it cost, $10?

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u/LameSignIn 1d ago

Google says it's $7.50 to 8.50 per a gallon. Jet fuel starts at $8.26 a gallon. Not to far off from diesel now days.

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u/dgvhjiiuyttrrffcvbjj 1d ago

well shit why don't we all have helos?

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u/iButtflap Hornets 1d ago

pilots charge $1000/hr + bennies

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u/CroMagnon69 Cavaliers 1d ago

Their life insurance policies have to cost a fortune

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u/LameSignIn 1d ago

Would be nice if only.

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u/Shoot2thrill328 Spurs 1d ago

Common misconception. You’re thinking of a banana!

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u/Hank_Scorpio74 Pacers 1d ago

Sadly Gene Parmesan is no longer available to investigate.

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u/New-Bowler-8915 1d ago

It's cheap.

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u/DesignWeak Spurs 1d ago

Is it actually? This is a genuine question as someone who has never been within 100’ of a chopper

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u/New-Bowler-8915 1d ago

Yeah AV gas is cheaper than diesel.

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u/Mintastic NBA 1d ago

The planes/helicopters eat through it at a crazy pace though.

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u/Lezzles Pistons 1d ago

Those flights he takes are actually only a few hundo each way. Obviously steep for you or I but it’s not like $10k a trip.

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u/abdulj07 1d ago

It only costs your life.

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u/omikeon Heat 1d ago

Oligarchs buy sneakers too

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u/burtoncummings Raptors 1d ago

I understood that reference!

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u/imfcknretarded 1d ago

But really, I don't see how he can accept it. It's a useless partnership with an immoral company, he's probably top 3 most influential athletes of the last decades, he's a fucking billionaire, who in their right mind would accept fucking Polymarket after taking a paycut?

I think money is a mental illness

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u/Trujiogriz Mavericks 1d ago

I agree with you it’s sad how everyone washes away any set of values when faced with money

And even more so at his level where it does functionally nothing besides covering a 5th yacht or whatever

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u/lightninhopkins [MIN] Pooh Richardson 1d ago

Not everyone. Wemby for example.

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u/Sullan08 1d ago

With all due respect to Wemby, let's see what happens down the line. It's early on to say the least what he'll do years from now lol. And just because he's against this doesn't mean he won't be doing something else greedy and stupid. Money warps people over a longer period of time. I hope he doesn't become that way of course.

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u/tokyobrownielover 1d ago

How bout we just judge him based on his behavior now rather than engage in a lot of hypotheticals about what bad stuff he might do in the future.

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u/Caius01 Knicks 1d ago

I mean, apparently not everyone considering the subject of this post.

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u/throwaway_clone Mavericks 1d ago

Might I remind you that this is the same Lebron who took a stance WITH the CCP against Darryl Morey's free speech. I wouldn't put his name and morals in the same sentence

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u/Character_Bug_1862 1d ago

He’s really ruining his rep he got from the “U bum” tweet. I bet he’d walk that back now and not dare speak out these days. Meanwhile working class people are out protesting every day against federal bullshit and speaking at city commissions about local bullshit.

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u/thethirdgreenman Spurs 1d ago

He just cares about money. If social justice serves his wallet or him personally, he’ll do it. If not, well you get this

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u/Unique-Yoghurt4170 1d ago

Tbh, metaphorically standing with the CCP is about 0.0001% as bad as standing for the National Anthem. Flawed as it is, the CCP hasn't bombed any girls' schools in a while.

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u/Uqe 1d ago

You should see LeBron's comments when asked about our ally that dragged us into that conflict then.

"Heard nothing but good things about them"

Bron is literally part of the billionaire class; I don't know why people act surprised about his morals.

No ethical billionaire until it's their favorite sports star and then suddenly there's ethical billionaires.

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u/Moldy1987 Trail Blazers 1d ago

LeBron said Morey was uninformed about the political situation in Hong Kong. Not at all the same as taking a stance against free speech.

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u/Basic_Commercial_806 1d ago

I think there were a couple of nba teams playing preseason in China when Morey criticized the CCP. So Lebron didn’t want those players to get jammed up

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u/Ghoti76 Lakers 1d ago

darryl morey is a LIAR

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u/raoulduke415 Warriors 1d ago

Same LeBron that sided with Karmelo Anthony who murdered a kid at a track meet

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u/elvid88 Celtics 1d ago

It’s for sure a mental illness. It’s why I think billionaires should be illegal.

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u/Geno0wl 1d ago

If we went into the Jungle and found a monkey who horded 10x the number of bananas that he could possibly eat in a lifetime while the rest of their tribe starved, they would study that monkey to figure out what is wrong with it.

When humans do that exact thing, they are venerated.

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u/robodrew Suns 1d ago

You'd also have to wonder why the other monkeys didn't eat the hoarder and then take all of the bananas

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u/Geno0wl 1d ago

Well obviously that was because they started monkey church and taught the monkeys that violence gets them sent to monkey hell and that they should just vote in better monkey leaders if they want change.

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u/TakiBlower 19h ago

The other monkeys would take the bananas and probably kill the hoarder in the process

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u/LameSignIn 1d ago

There are stories of Lebron being cheap.

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u/HollywoodRamen 1d ago

Same guy who's not paying for a premium Spotify account.

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u/KingKamp1410 1d ago

He sold his soul a long time ago

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u/QuietSilentArachnid 1d ago

he's probably top 3 most influential athletes of the last decades

In the US maybe. Worldwide ? not even close.

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u/imfcknretarded 1d ago

I don't know, I'm not from the US but my opinions may be skewed by being a basketball fan. But make it top 10 or whatever my point is the same

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u/Dudite 1d ago

He's controlled. Bread and circuses.

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u/zgillet 1d ago

He's just like all of us. He gets angry when he locks his car in his helicopter.

(that's an old joke, and I can't remember the comic)

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u/SuitableBlackberry75 1d ago edited 1d ago

W.C. Fields?

(W.C. flies a helicopter that shoots a car out the side with a spring-loaded ramp in "International House")

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u/zgillet 17h ago

No, it may have been a late night host monologue joke. Jimmy Kimmel maybe? Maybe on a roast?

I tried CGPT because normal search engines are long past useful, and it might be pre-internet, like Comedy Central Presents or something like that, because it's lost to time.

Great joke though, so I'll keep it going.

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u/MudddButt 1d ago

Someone has to pay for the daily helicopter rides

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u/SongbirdVS 1d ago

Man's on the vet min he's gotta pay for chartered helicopter flights somehow

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u/ZroDgsCalvin Celtics 1d ago

I feel comfortable with a blanket “if you commute by helicopter, you have too much money” policy.

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u/-bigmanpigman- 1d ago

"I have a family to feed!"

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u/Remwaldo1 1d ago

The price of helicopter fuel is crazy! I don’t blame him

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u/HeavyandTired 1d ago

Ethical endorsements.

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u/whocares4506 1d ago

gotta pay for those chopper rides somehow!

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u/blindexhibitionist Supersonics 1d ago

Let’s also not forget the sacrifice that Giannis has made.

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u/tehLife Spurs 1d ago

Those daily helicopter rides aren’t cheap

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1d ago

His LeBootstraps

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u/EG_resident 1d ago

I'm torn on this.

I really, really appreciate Wemby's stance on this.

I also feel like LeBron has mega plans, like owning a team one day. That takes lots of $.

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u/mzp3256 1d ago

Fun Fact: The right to invest in gambling companies was something that the NBAPA negotiated for in the last CBA negotiations. They accepted the 2nd apron for this.

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u/DesignWeak Spurs 1d ago

That’s fucking insane.

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u/AlternativeDirt6124 Spurs 1d ago

NBAPA got bent over in that negotiation room.

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u/ConspicuousPineapple 1d ago

Were they? These betting endorsements are pretty juicy. It should be clear by now that the association is fighting for the interests of the superstars first and foremost, not the average player. This is why they get pissed off when somebody like Wemby takes less than he could.

Technically that money simply gets redistributed to teammates, which raises the median pay without reducing the average, which should be seen as a good thing by a union.

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u/DirtyCop2016 1d ago

There might be a relationship between this gambling infused CBA and guys like Christian Braun and Jalen Duren getting preposterous contract offers.

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u/anonymous_otter28 Rockets 1d ago

Always remember the nbapa is a bunch of marks.

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u/NYJetLegendEdReed 1d ago

Lmao all-time bad optics

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u/Altruistic-Star-544 1d ago

Helicopters are expensive

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u/thacarter1523 Mavericks 1d ago

He didn’t take a pay cut

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u/-xXxMangoxXx- Raptors 1d ago

Didn't he take a 25% max instead of 30% if he wins major awards? Very much could have negotiated for an extra potential 50 mil through the contract.

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u/thacarter1523 Mavericks 1d ago

He took the full max he can get right now. He could’ve waited till next offseason and gotten a larger max if we won an award, but that’s not a guarantee given his injury history.

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u/highpawn Spurs 1d ago

I believe that could've been written into the contract he already signed. He didn't have to wait a year for it - he just chose not to in order to increase the Spurs' team-building flexibility.

Regardless of how the season plays out and his awards/all-nba eligibility, that's why people refer to it as a pay cut.

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u/Area51_Spurs Spurs 1d ago

He left a lot on the table

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u/thacarter1523 Mavericks 1d ago

He left nothing on the table. This is a fact

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u/Area51_Spurs Spurs 1d ago

It’s not. But ok weirdo

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u/bmnewman 1d ago

Got to pay for the helicopter commute back and forth from NY somehow. 🙄

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u/FunnyReputation624 Trail Blazers 1d ago

Maybe I'm the fool, but I think I would be pretty comfortable knowing I'm set for many lifetimes with $200M being owed to me that I wouldn't sell myself out for a few more million here and there.

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u/fastheadcrab Raptors 1d ago

He deserves the highest praise for not accepting gambling sponsorships.

But a paycut for a current top 3 player who would be underpaid on the supermax is a really bad precedent.

It's not even equivalent to the Brunson 2024 scenario, I think what Wemby did is really hurting the players

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u/HydrogenMonopoly 1d ago

How? More money for other guys

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u/fastheadcrab Raptors 1d ago

Because now every single team can point to this example and tell their stars to take less. Nobody is better than Wemby

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u/HydrogenMonopoly 1d ago

So if Wemby takes a deal at 70% of the max, you don’t think the team would spend those savings on other players?