Golden State Warriors' defensive anchor Draymond Green jumped to the defense of long-time friend LeBron James over the latter's deal with Polymarket.

James recently partnered with the online prediction market on an agreement worth $15 million per year — more money than his two-year, $8 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Professional athletes collaborating with betting/prediction markets has long been frowned upon for many reasons. One of them is protecting the integrity of sports. Another is promoting gambling, particularly to an audience packed with young, impressionable people.

It also doesn't help that the NBA has been dealing with internal illegal gambling scandals of its own in recent years.

However, Green opines that if the league can have such partners, then the players deserve the right to do the same.

The NBA has had DraftKings and FanDuel as its official domestic sports betting partners since 2021. The league additionally has nine international betting partners and is reportedly close to a partnership with a prediction market.

In that sense, Green's argument is completely valid. The NBA and its fans have no legs to stand on when demanding that players stay clear of such deals if the league is knee-deep in trying to profit from the same thing. Integrity isn't only important on the hardwood, but even more so off it. 

LeBron's rap with Polymarket gets worse, however, when you take into consideration that the company is currently facing active lawsuits and regulatory pressure from multiple states, claiming that its sports event contracts are operating as unlicensed, illegal gambling.

But the NBA's hands aren't clean of controversy in that regard either. 

In October 2025, federal agents charged 34 people in two major criminal schemes related to the league.

Operation Nothing but Net focused on illegal sports betting and sharing inside team data. Operation Royal Flush focused on high-stakes poker games rigged by organized crime families.

Across the pair, Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups (card games), Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier (betting), and former player and coach Damon Jones (both) faced charges.

Additionally, in 2024, former Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter — brother of Nets star Michael Porter Jr. — received a lifetime ban from the NBA after pleading guilty to a federal conspiracy after running an illegal scheme to manipulate player prop bets. 

All of that combined doesn't just make LeBron's partnership with the industry a tough look; it blemishes the entire league.

The precedent should be set at the very top. If it isn't, then it is simply unfair to hold the players to a higher standard.

"You can't be in sports and think that it's okay for the league to have certain partnerships but not the players," Draymond told FOS. "That's hypocritical." 

Green doubled down on his sentiment when he said that he, too, would like to get into business with a prediction market one day. 

"I definitely have an interest in the different markets and the things that you can predict," he added. "There's a prediction for everything, and I definitely have a ton of opinions."

Although it is a fine line to thread, what separates a prediction market from traditional sports betting is that there is no limit on what you can predict. You can 'bet' on the weather or what a presidential candidate will say at their next rally, for example.

As a result, deals like LeBron's will likely continue to happen — perhaps even more often now. Because whether it feels right or wrong, it is certainly not worse optically than the partnerships the league is in.