The Fumble: Zion Williamson's Pressure, NBA Gambling Scandal

The 2025-26 NBA season has officially tipped off, and there are already a few storylines that you need to be paying attention to.

The Fumble cohosts Rodney Rikai and Samaria Hamilton are focused on many new-look teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers sans LeBron James with a skinny Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant heading south to the Houston Rockets, and perhaps the most legacy-defining season for Zion Williamson.

“[Zion Williamson] really has to play well this season,” Samaria says. “He can possibly lose out on $90 million if the Pelicans decide to cut him. So he’s really playing for his life. And I think that’s kind of scary because if we can see Zion Williamson like really hone in and lose weight and get healthy, then I think that he’s probably going to play some of his best basketball this upcoming season.”

The crew also chopped it up about the NBA scandal involving Chauncey Billups’ mafia-ruled poker games, Terry Rozier manipulating his own stats, and Damon Jones giving insider info about rosters, including LeBron James.

Rodney finds the whole thing slippery because ESPN promotes gambling across all its properties.

“We’ve opened up a can of worms and I don’t think there’s any scenario in which we can go back,” Rodney begins. ESPN is running this article and they have to remove their betting lines from underneath the conversation. ESPN is in partnership with gambling. So, what are you going to tell me when your main media rights partner is notorious for letting people know what the betting lines are? How do how do we separate the two?”

This week, the cohosts also spoke to former NFL player Isaac Keys about how his dreams of playing professional football led him to become an actor and star in the hit show Power.

The Fumble: Zion Williamson’s Pressure, NBA Gambling Scandal & More was originally published on cassiuslife.com