NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Partners With Betting Company Kalshi, Internet Rumors, Conspiracy Theories Fly

Milwaukee Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo recently got a huge payday, and I'm not talking about a lucrative NBA contract.

The man they call The Greek Freak announced on Friday that he had partnered with the online betting company, Kalshi, as a shareholder.

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Now, I know what you're thinking, a professional athlete partnering with a betting company? Sounds a little suspect.

Not to worry, most of the fans on the internet share your concerns, and the fine folks on X were all too quick to jump down Giannis' throat about his new business endeavors taking place off the basketball court.

Whoa! Looks like basketball fans are not happy with one of the poster boys of the NBA.

And, honestly, they have a point. It does seem like a bit of a conflict of interest when one of the best players in the league is a shareholder with a company that makes it possible to make easy prop bets online.

We already have precedent when it comes to basketball players – both professional and "amateur" – so it wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility for a guy like Giannis to pull some funny business with his new business associate.

That's not all.

We already have a juicy conspiracy theory being floated about Giannis and Kalshi by an unlikely source.

I'm not the biggest fan of RedditCFB by any stretch of the imagination, but this is a grade A, tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theory if I've ever seen one.

So, as the story goes, Giannis was rumored to have been linked to trades sending him out of Milwaukee, so much so that even ESPN insiders like Shams Charania ran with the story.

Of course, Giannis didn't go anywhere, but some money certainly moved around.

$23 million, to be exact.

Did Giannis float the trade rumors to make his new business partner some money only to renege at the last minute and stay put?

It's an interesting theory, one that may never be proven true or false.

Do I think Giannis made up trade rumors about himself to give Kalshi some extra action?

Not really. But it's fun for people on the internet to speculate.

These rumors will continue to fly as long as professional athletes are betting on sports, so I doubt Giannis will be the last player linked to a gambling conspiracy.

Buckle up, because this is only going to keep getting worse before it gets better.