The NBA is Banning the Weirdest Prop Bets on the Board

The NBA is finally stepping in to stop bettors from financially targeting the end of the bench. ESPN's Shams Charania and David Purdum reported that the league and major sportsbooks are officially banning a very specific, very chaotic slice of the prop betting market.

If your nightly routine involved parlaying the under on a backup center's points, rebounds, and assists, you are going to need a new hobby. The league is outlawing same-player under parlays, meaning you can no longer build a financial portfolio around a guy having the worst night of his professional life.

"Shams Charania and David Purdum reported the agreement between the NBA and prominent sportsbooks."

They are also killing off the first-of markets. That means no more betting on who wins the opening tip, or who grabs the first rebound, assist, or steal of the game. It turns out that letting people wager real money on which seven-footer happens to tap a leather ball at exactly 7:10 p.m. might not be the most stable ecosystem for the sport.

But the funniest part of this crackdown is the ban on under bets for players expected to see less than 12 minutes of floor time. The NBA is basically protecting its fringe rotation guys from catching strays from the betting public.

Imagine fighting your whole life to make the league, only to check your mentions after a game and see a guy furious that you accidentally grabbed a garbage-time rebound and ruined his parlay. This is an obvious integrity play to keep the absolute weirdest corners of the betting board closed for business before someone figures out how to exploit them.

The days of sweating out a third-string point guard's stat line are officially over. As the season rolls on, bettors will just have to go back to losing their money the old-fashioned way by trusting star players to actually make their free throws.