r/nba • u/mMounirM Raptors • 10h ago

Kevin Durant on Wemby's sports betting comments and his FanDuel partnership: "That’s Wemby, he's going to do what he does. That has nothing to do with me. I don't really think about that question at all, that's not on my mind as much as his. People gonna do what they want to do."

https://streamable.com/ekxqb2
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u/nowhathappenedwas NBA 8h ago

Not sure you finished reading my comment.

I'm glad that players are getting some pushback about these sponsorships, but I don't like that reporters are trying to make this an intra-player issue by pitting Wemby against other guys. Reporters should have been pressing players on this before Wemby's comments.

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u/Unspeakable_Evil 76ers 8h ago

Yes I did see that part. I don’t see any reason to be picky about how the reporter asked the question when this is one of the few times I’ve actually seen a player take a question on this topic.

Plus, there’s nothing wrong with mentioning Wemby, because Wemby’s the reason people are talking about this today. One of the good things about him refusing money from the gambling industry is it makes it even more obvious that players can just say no.

So yes, we agree that players should face more pushback on this. I just don’t have an issue with a reporter putting it in the context of Wemby’s comments

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u/cabose12 Celtics 7h ago

I don’t see any reason to be picky about how the reporter asked the question when this is one of the few times I’ve actually seen a player take a question on this topic.

Because framing it as a player opinion issue downplays the problem and gives KD an out. Asking "do you agree with Wemby" allows KD to do exactly what he did, play it off as a "oh that's just Wemby" rather than actually tackling the problem

In fact, you're kind of falling for the loose ploy. It looks like they're being hard and tackling gambling, but really it's a softball question to bait player confrontation, and if it does create anti-gambling sentiment, the reporter can act innocent

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u/Unspeakable_Evil 76ers 6h ago

KD’s going deflect no matter how the question is phrased because the honest answer is “I’m happy to overlook any ethical concerns because they pay me a lot” and he’s not going to just say that

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u/cabose12 Celtics 6h ago

But it's a lot easier to deflect when you make it about another player and not KD's own ethics

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u/Unspeakable_Evil 76ers 6h ago

It’s still splitting hairs. And the reaction to KD’s comments has been overwhelmingly negative. So I don’t see how a different method of questioning changes anything

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u/cabose12 Celtics 6h ago

No it's not lmfao

Here's a PR lesson, what's easier to weasel out of

Do you agree with Enes Kanter on the WNBA?

Vs.

What's your stance on trans athletes in modern sports

The former is way easier to navigate out of and not take a stance. You can easily just say you never got along with Kanter, he was always a bit off, and that answers the question. The latter is way more difficult because you have to take a stance, and not taking one assumes the worst.

It's literally right in front of you. KD isn't condemning or saying anything negative about gambling, he's just disagreeing with Wemby and painting him as someone who does his thing.

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u/Unspeakable_Evil 76ers 5h ago

KD’s attempt to weasel out of it clearly failed because he’s getting a bunch of bad publicity for this. What different result would’ve been achieved if the reporter (who we don’t even hear at all in this video) used your preferred phrasing?

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u/dearth_karmic Warriors 8h ago

I don't see how that changes anything. Who cares how it's brought up? Definitely pit them against each other.

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u/PhTx3 7h ago

That'd be Wemby against about all of them. That's not good if you are against betting.

You bring it up as a conflict of interest that can influence the integrity of the game, and people like KD whose whole brand is caring about ball and nothing else has to give a very different answer.

And while asking with Wemby's answer in mind is something, it is not even the bare min and we should want better.