Point Of Control: Guards, Long The Key To Fixing Games, Have Company Lately

The modern avatar for basketball betting corruption in the United States — Jontay Porter — was a forward. That makes him somewhat of a trendsetter, too.

Because traditionally, when fixers have sought to manipulate games, they’ve tried to ensnare a guard — a point guard, preferably — according to Stevin “Hedake” Smith, who played that position and a key role in the 1993-94 Arizona State point-shaving scandal.

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Granted, Porter, a former Toronto Raptors journeyman, who is awaiting sentencing on federal charges of wire fraud conspiracy, admitted to intentionally underperforming in certain statistical categories to win prop bets for his co-conspirators in 2024. He was not accused of influencing the overall outcome or point spread on games.

Athletes and gambling integrity experts agree that the measure of control gamblers possess over the final score is directly proportional to corrupting players with the greatest influence — as in, those who possess the ball. On the hardwood, a ball-handler or shooter has generally held much more influence than a post player.

Past basketball scandals underscore the power of point guards:

• The 1978-79 Boston College point-shaving scandal would not have been possible had the mafia’s insider on the roster, forward Rick Kuhn, not immediately enlisted point guard Jim Sweeney.

• All-America point guard Gene Melchiorre pled guilty to accepting bribes to shave points while at Bradley in the City College of New York (CCNY) scandal. The top pick of the 1951 NBA draft was banned by the league and never played a game for the Baltimore Bullets.

“Even with two guys, you’re going to always have to have the point guard because the point guard runs the show,” Smith, now a gambling-awareness counselor with EPIC Global Solutions, told InGame. “Point guard is the pitcher, quarterback, he’s the coach. That’s what people don’t understand. You can’t just go get anybody.”

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But a recent indictment from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania revealed that the use of forwards in point-shaving schemes is becoming more prevalent.

Forwards are sought-after fixers now

Of the 20 NCAA men’s basketball players indicted or “charged elsewhere” for manipulating point spreads by the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Jan. 15, nine were guards and 11 were forwards. There were no centers, reinforcing Smith’s assertion that they’re largely useless in these types of operations.

At least four of the forwards were allegedly conspiring with teammates who played guard, meaning that position was involved in a majority of the alleged corruption.

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One of those guards, former Eastern Michigan player Carlos Hart, is scheduled to surrender to authorities for arraignment on Thursday, according to ESPN’s David Purdum.

An examination of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania charging documents found that the alleged fixers, even if they started with forwards, appeared to realize quickly that having a guard in on the scheme was crucial.

Tulane forward Kevin Cross was the first to allegedly attempt to fix games for a ring spearheaded by indicted conspirator Shane Hennen. He’s the only indicted player without at least one co-conspirator as a teammate.

On March 4, 2024, when co-conspirators bet around $200,000 for Florida Atlantic to cover a 15-point spread in an eventual 79-73 Owls win, Cross scored 14 points, close to his 17.6-per-game average at the time, foiling the wager.

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In the coming weeks, the ring ensured it had multiple players involved on each corrupted roster. The gamblers were most successful with three or more players on one team involved and, ultimately, successfully rigged 67% of its targeted games according to the allegations.

Charging documents list eight unindicted co-conspirators. At each of the schools where they played — St. Louis, Fordham, Buffalo, DePaul, Robert Morris, Kennessaw State, and Abilene Christian — the indicted players are forwards, but in most cases are alleged to have recruited teammates into the scheme.

Indicted DePaul point guard Jalen Terry’s play shows how central his position is to fixing games. He went scoreless against Georgetown on Feb. 24, 2024, to assure a first-half rigging of the spread, and in a March 5 game against St. John’s, after halftime complaints via text message from the ringleaders, he was tasked with helping keep the ball from a teammate that wasn’t complicit in the scheme.

Illusion of total control is corrosive

Dr. Brian Selman, EPIC Global Solutions’ U.S. sport program manager, said that confidence bred of perceived control can lead to unfounded senses of invincibility. The level of responsibility on a team can elevate that perception.

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“Those are the types of things that lead student-athletes into convincing themselves that they can manipulate things in the margin that most others wouldn’t notice,” he said. “Manipulating the shot clock, manipulating who you pass it to, and where, on the floor — these are types of really nuanced factors that as an average six-foot guy that can’t jump over a piece of paper I’d have no idea.”

Smith was the starting point guard at Arizona State when campus bookie Benny Silman enlisted him near the end of the 1993-94 season.

“At first I started out thinking it was going to be me, but they wanted to be secure, so they wanted to make sure I had somebody else,” Smith said.

Eventually, forward Isaac Burton was brought into the plan, helping Smith manipulate the spreads in four games. But Burton’s importance in it was underscored by his eventual punishment. While Smith was imprisoned for a year, Burton paid a fine and was ordered to perform community service.

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Perhaps not coincidentally, the second most high-profile NBA player to be indicted on federal sports corruption charges — all of which involved alleged fixers Hennen and Marves Fairley — ran point for the Charlotte Hornets at the time of his alleged malfeance. Federal prosecutors claim that Terry Rozier — who pleaded not guilty on fraud charges — on multiple occasions informed gamblers that he would leave games early to make sure he didn’t hit the targets of pre-game prop bets.