Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t get traded, but he is taking a position elsewhere.
The Bucks superstar is investing in Kalshi through his company Ante Inc., the two announced Friday. Financial details or the size of his stake were not disclosed. He will appear at live events for the company, in marketing materials, and more.
“As an active player in the NBA, Antetokounmpo will be forbidden from trading on markets related to the NBA, per Kalshi’s strict terms of service that ban insider trading and market manipulation,” Kalshi said in a press release.
“I love the Kalshi markets and have been checking them often recently,” Antetokounmpo said in the press release. “I like to win. It’s clear to me Kalshi is going to be a winner and I’m excited to be getting involved.”
Although Kalshi touted Antetokounmpo as its “first basketball star to join as a shareholder,” cofounder Tarek Mansour previously said in October that Kevin Durant participated in the company’s $300 million Series D funding round. The distinction is that Durant is a shareholder in a fund that invested, while Antetokounmpo is investing directly in the company, a spokesperson for Kalshi tells Front Office Sports.
A representative for the NBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The league has not yet embraced the growing prediction-market industry; its assistant general counsel in May wrote a letter to the CFTC requesting “specific regulatory provisions that can mitigate the associated integrity risks” of prediction markets.
The Antetokounmpo announcement comes not long after Kalshi unveiled its first athlete endorser, LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau. That deal will include a TV commercial, social media posts, live appearances and promotions, branded content, and more.
Kalshi is also an official partner of the NHL, and has a separate deal with the Blackhawks. Its primary rival, Polymarket, is an NHL partner, has deals with the Rangers and UFC, and also recently reached an agreement with MLS.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is an investor in Polymarket, but not an endorser. NFL players and PGA Tour golfers are banned from endorsing prediction markets.
There is no specific policy prohibiting NBA players from endorsing prediction markets, a person familiar with the matter previously told FOS. However, players would not be allowed to promote specific NBA-related event contracts, the person said.
That’s similar to how the NBA treats regulated sports betting; LeBron James has a deal with DraftKings, for example, but he mostly promotes football. Investing in a company is generally treated differently than endorsing it.
The announcement of Antetokounmpo’s Kalshi deal comes the same day Kalshi suffered a setback in its legal battle with the Massachusetts attorney general, which sued the prediction-market platform in September. The judge in the case issued a ruling ordering Kalshi to stop offering sports event contracts in the state within 30 days—although Kalshi immediately appealed the ruling, which likely buys it some time before the company has to implement geofencing.
Kalshi is fighting lawsuits against multiple states, including New Jersey, Maryland, and Nevada. The gaming regulator in Nevada recently sued Polymarket, marking the first state lawsuit filed against the Kalshi competitor. Polymarket was ordered to stop offering sports event contracts in Nevada for at least two weeks, which it did.
The action comes up against the Super Bowl, which is traditionally the biggest sports-betting day of the year. Prediction-market platforms have been arguing there is a distinction between sports event contracts and sports betting, and hundreds of millions of dollars have been placed on Kalshi event contracts related to the game between the Patriots and Seahawks.
