Tamim said again, "Fire him."
To be honest, Tamim had never liked David Xiao Hua, the NBA president.
Although Xiao Hua had used all sorts of methods over the past few years to expand the NBA's commercial reach, earning Tamim some money in the process, his unscrupulous approach to making money still made Tamim resent him.
Take something recent—or rather, something from a while back: he had legalized sports betting in the NBA.
That had thrown the NBA into chaos.
For example, Jontay Porter, a former twenty-four-year-old forward for the Raptors, had been involved in at least thirteen games affected by betting.
Now, NBA betting wasn't just about wagering on who would win or lose anymore.
The data could be broken down to every player's points, rebounds, assists, and more in every game.
For instance, a sportsbook might set a betting line for how many rebounds Jontay Porter would get in a game.
Gamblers could then bet on whether he'd get more than five rebounds.
If he averaged seven rebounds per game, then surely more fans would bet that he'd get over five rebounds than bet that he'd get fewer than five.
At that point, Jontay Porter could get his friends and family to place big bets on him getting fewer than five rebounds.
He'd play just two or three minutes in the game, then tell the coach he wasn't feeling well and couldn't play anymore.
That way, the friends and family who'd bet on him would make a killing.
The NBA prohibited players from betting on games, but it had never prohibited their friends and family from doing so.
So on the surface, this was perfectly legal.
But pulling off a stunt like that once or twice was one thing. Do it too many times, and the NBA would