Ron Artest Says He Was Offered $35,000 To Throw A Game In College

Ron Artest (if Clem says his mama calls him Ron Artest then Clem calls him Ron Artest, I’m gonna call him Ron Artest, or some shit like that) says he was offered $35,000 to throw games in college while at St. John’s. It’s not all that surprising as we’ve seen this happen before. Just go look at Boston College, Arizona State, etc. But, what is surprising is that they targeted a player like Artest, who was going to be a first round pick and not someone who was a bit lower than him.

Here’s the quote from him that really stood out:

“One interesting time, they come to me in my neighborhood and say, I’ve got $35,000 for you. I said alright that’s cool. I’ll take 35,000. They said, we need you to throw a game. That’s when I’m like, ‘You a–hole.’ But it crossed my mind. Thirty-five thousand dollars? To throw a game? Not bad.”

Artest went on to speak about how it’s a bit ridiculous for these guys to target kids – and they know which ones to target. They target those that come from little to no money and that they can easily bully into a few thousand dollars. Ultimately, it leads to a bit of an interesting side story revolving around amateurism and even to a tiny bit the gambling law getting overturned this week. If you let these kids go make money off their name, likeness and image is this a story that you hear more about? I’m going to guess no. Because the players that have the capability to throw a game – i.e. someone like Artest can make $35,000 on their NLI. Or at least have the chance to make $35,000 on his NLI.

That’s why you have to let these kids make money. I’ve preached it so many times now. You can’t just let the schools pay the kids – that’s an impossible thing. But, you have to let them get money from a car dealership who wants to pay them $5,000 to use their face on an ad. Or $10,000 for an autograph session at their place of business. That’s not hurting anyone. You can say that bigger schools will dominate recruiting because of boosters, but how is that different now?

All in all a pretty interesting interview though with Artest, who played at St. John’s from 1997-1999.