(Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Puck)
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league wants access to prediction market trading data so it can detect insider trading and other manipulation, adding the NBA’s voice to a growing push by major sports leagues for more oversight of sports event contracts.
Silver made the comments Friday in a “Squawk Box” interview with CNBC, saying the league views prediction markets and sports betting the same way when it comes to protecting its games.
“Whether it’s called a prediction market, whether it’s sports betting, it’s the same issues for our league and I think for all the leagues, there’s issues around integrity first and foremost,” Silver said. “We want access to that data. We also want control of the market.”
Silver pointed to contracts on whether a coach may be fired as an example of what he called “odd behavior” in the markets. CNBC disclosed that it has a commercial relationship with Kalshi that includes a minority investment and customer acquisition.
His remarks came a day after the NFL filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear New Jersey’s case against Kalshi. The NFL argued that sports contracts on prediction markets are gambling rather than financial swaps, which are regulated at the federal level by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and raised concerns about manipulation of contracts tied to player injuries or performance.
Silver Backs Age Limit, Federal Oversight
Silver agreed with the NFL that prediction market traders should be at least 21, the minimum age several states set for sportsbooks. But where the NFL sided with state regulators, Silver said he supports federal authority over the platforms.
“Frankly, from at least the NBA standpoint, we have roughly 40 different jurisdictions regulating us right now. So to have a consistent policy nationally, I think would be in our best interest,” he said.
The American Gaming Association also filed a brief Thursday urging the justices to take up New Jersey’s case and related Nevada cases, joining state officials and regulators and tribes that want the court to settle whether federal commodities law overrides state gambling laws.
Courts have split on that question. CNBC noted that multiple courts have ruled in favor of states overseeing prediction market exchanges, while a recent ruling in Illinois blocked the state from enforcing its gambling laws against Kalshi and Coinbase event contracts.
Licensed US sportsbooks and mobile sports betting apps must meet state licensing, tax and responsible gambling requirements, while prediction markets have argued that their federal status places them outside much of that framework.
The NBA has dealt with betting-related misconduct in recent seasons. In April 2024, the league banned Jontay Porter, a two-way player recently under contract with the Toronto Raptors, after an investigation found he disclosed confidential health information to a bettor, limited his own playing time for betting purposes and bet on NBA games. The NBA said the suspicious wagers on Porter’s performance were brought to its attention by licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets.
Silver said at the time that “legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity,” but that the case also raised “important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players.”
In October 2025, federal authorities arrested Terry Rozier, then a Miami Heat guard, and Chauncey Billups, then head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, in two related investigations. Rozier was accused of taking part in a scheme in which bettors used nonpublic NBA information, while Billups was charged in a separate case involving rigged poker games. The NBA placed both on immediate leave, and Rozier’s attorney said his client is “not a gambler.”