Controversial Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma is finding his way into the news for more drama involving New York politicians than for playing basketball. Kuzma recently went viral for calling out New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his comments about Israel. However, a new controversy has emerged regarding Kuzma and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul about the betting site Kalshi.
New York issued a lawsuit to Kalshi for running an illegal gambling operation that doesn’t follow the current state rules. Kuzma chimed in with the following complaints since he’s an investor for Kalshi:
“Kalshi offered New York a plan that would’ve brought in $10B over five years for public schools and healthcare. Hochul’s response is to ban them to protect the casino lobby. Politicians losing the plot. Makes you wonder what really motivates these politicians.”
Hochul’s Twitter page responded with a blunt retort that went viral with a screen shot showing Kuzma’s ties to Kalshi:
“But your motivations are pure, right?”
Kuzma got “ratio’d” with Hochul’s tweet receiving over 20,000 likes compared to the original comment from Kuzma getting just 1,000 likes. Nearly an equal number of people on NBA Twitter replied to also challenge Kuzma’s comments that liked it. The public opinion sees Kuzma looking like the loser again for getting in political debates.
Why Kyle Kuzma Picked Worst Time To Talk
NBA fans are not giving Kuzma the benefit of the doubt in off-court topics partially due to his on-court results. Kuzma looked like he’d be a contributor to winning basketball in the NBA after his first few seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
A trade to the Washington Wizards even saw Kuzma’s stats going up to add more hype to his name. However, he started to fall off in Washington and received a dream scenario of getting traded to the Bucks when they were still hoping to contend for an NBA Championship.
Milwaukee even traded all-time franchise great Khris Middleton due to believing that Kuzma’s youth and upside would help them. Kuzma struggled to stand out in the playoffs and had an even worse season this past year. The Bucks trading Giannis Antetokounmpo means that Kuzma is now in one of the worst situations and teams no longer want to trade for him.
Kyle Kuzma Revealed Huge NBA Kalshi Problem
The NBA already gets flack for their role in sports gambling with broadcasts encouraging fans to gamble on sites like FanDuel or DraftKings. Kalshi tries to brand themselves as prediction markets on all topics rather than traditional sports betting.
However, Kuzma is one of multiple NBA players who invest in a platform that essentially gets fans to gamble on sports things. Giannis and Kevin Durant are two significantly bigger names to also have investment ties to Kalshi.
Antetokounmpo was called out for investing in the platform while they ran betting props on his next team long before he joined the Miami Heat. One could argue that Giannis had incentive to prolong the trade talks for more bets. Durant, Kuzma, and any other names to get involved with Kalshi or other betting sites can be argued as a huge conflict of interest.
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