CREATED BY SPORTS BETTORS FOR SPORTS BETTORS
LET’S HEAR YOUR STORY
During Wednesday's 108-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors player Fred VanVleet was fined $30,000 for remarks concerning officiating.
In a contentious defeat to the Denver Nuggets earlier this week, VanVleet chose to "save his money" rather than criticize the officials. That wasn't the case on Wednesday, when the 29-year-old launched a vulgar diatribe directed at NBA officials, notably Ben Taylor. Since paraphrasing the rant would be insufficient, here it is in its entirety:
Most officials are doing their hardest; I like a lot of refs; they're trying their hardest, they're relatively fair, they communicate effectively, and then there are the others who just want to be d—cks. That just messes up the game. Nobody comes to witness that nonsense; they come to see the players. I believe we are losing some of the essence of what the NBA is and was. This season has been poor.
You can check it up, but most of my techs this year have been officiated by Ben Taylor. As a player, there comes a time when you feel it's personal. It's never a pleasant place to be. That's not why we lost tonight; we were outplayed, but it certainly makes it more difficult to overcome.
VanVleet's technical foul was called midway through the third quarter. That was his ninth of the season, with Taylor dishing out three of them. At the moment, the Clippers were up by seven points.
Toronto has been frustrated all season, with the club falling short of preseason expectations. The Raptors' playoff aspirations are dwindling as they trail the sixth-seeded Brooklyn Nets by six games with 15 games remaining. The Raptors are increasingly likely to be relegated to the play-in round in spring.
Individually, VanVleet has also had a disappointing campaign. He's averaging 19.3 points and 6.9 assists per game while shooting a career-low 34 percent from outside the arc. He was the subject of multiple trade rumors in the run-up to the NBA trade deadline, but the Raptors chose to keep him. The native of Rockford, Illinois, is slated to decline his $22.8 million player option for 2023-24 and enter free agency this summer.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
Your experience on this site will be improved by allowing cookies.
