The WNBA caused an unwanted kerfuffle this summer. After a social media post featuring Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers making a low-stakes (but real cash) bet went viral, the sports media industrial complex went all scowls and finger-wags about “bad looks” and “integrity of the game” concerns, and the broader topic of gambling in sports spent a few more days in the broadcast media sun.

If the Reese-Bueckers affair was the worst scandal to rock pro sports since the leagues cozied up with the DraftKings and FanDuels of the world, it might be excused and forgotten — but it’s not the worst scandal; it is at best a minor scandal compared to others (see also: Rozier, Terry; Porter, Jontay; and Clase, Emmanuel/Ortiz, Luis), and it will guaranteed pale in comparison to scandals yet to come.

On a larger but more emotional scale, Washington Wizards fans and Utah Jazz fans lost on nearly a nightly basis as their franchises threw in the proverbial towels on the 2025-2026 season. In the NFL, Cleveland Browns fans believe their ownership tanks every year — and who can blame them?

Professional sports are reaching a state of misalignment, where the dollars-and-cents concerns of players and owners conflict with fans’ emotional desires. Integrating legalized gambling with professional sports risks pushing this misalignment even further out of........

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