{"id":587523,"date":"2026-02-07T03:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/587523\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T03:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:17:12","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-joins-prediction-market-company-kalshi-as-investor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/587523\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo joins prediction-market company Kalshi as investor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo announced on Friday that he is partnering with prediction-market service Kalshi as a shareholder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In doing so, Antetokounmpo became the first NBA player to invest in the company that offers financial contracts on sports predictions, including, as recently as this week, whether the two-time MVP would be traded before Thursday\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Kalshi issued a statement saying he will partner with the company at live events, in marketing and more.<\/p>\n

The company creates \u201cyes or no\u201d markets in many spheres, including politics and culture (for example, the Oscar for best picture). In sports, outcomes such as which of two teams will win the NBA title are paired to attract traders on both sides of each possible outcome.<\/p>\n

Even though Kalshi\u2019s contracts result in money changing hands (like with a gambling service), Kalshi is legal nationwide<\/a>. It is viewed as a financial trading platform, not a gambling service, and thus is not subject to state gaming commission rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an active player in the NBA, Antetokounmpo will be forbidden from trading on markets related to the NBA, per Kalshi\u2019s strict terms of service that ban insider trading and market manipulation,\u201d Kalshi\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n

The most recent NBA collective bargaining agreement allows players to advertise for sports betting companies as long as it isn\u2019t for NBA, WNBA or G League wagers. Players can also take up to a 1 percent stake in such companies as a passive investor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear to me Kalshi is going to be a winner, and I\u2019m excited to be getting involved,\u201d Antetokounmpo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The tie between Antetokounmpo, who has a Q Score among the NBA\u2019s best, and a company that creates outcome-based financial contracts was announced barely 100 days after the indictments of Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and 32 others for actions related to gambling on NBA games.<\/p>\n

The NCAA sent a letter to Kalshi<\/a> in late October, asking the service to adjust the phrase \u201cOutcome verified from NCAA\u201d to \u201cOutcome sourced from NCAA.com,\u201d due to concerns that the original wording implied a partnership between the two entities. However, others in the sports sphere have embraced the company.<\/p>\n

Kalshi announced a partnership with the NHL<\/a> in October, stating the league\u2019s recognition \u201cunderscores how quickly regulated event trading is becoming a core part of how fans engage with the world\u2019s biggest sports. For Kalshi, the partnership reinforces the platform\u2019s role as a federally regulated exchange built on transparency and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalshi reached a deal with professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau<\/a> in mid-January as the company\u2019s first athlete endorser, according to Front Office Sports, which described DeChambeau\u2019s role as including a TV commercial, social media posts, live appearances and more.<\/p>\n

DeChambeau\u2019s deal with Kalshi also signaled the launch of markets on events in which he competes, according to a statement by Kalshi cited by Front Office Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo announced on Friday that he is partnering with prediction-market service Kalshi as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,121,6,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-587523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116027185260945776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}