The FBI investigation into illegal gambling activities among NBA coaches and players sheds light on a dark underbelly within sports. The excess of betting has led to troubling patterns of behavior, as seen in fans reaching out to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.

Prior to the game against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, Kerr openly addressed the problem of fans sending him and his players emails and essentially blaming them for losing bets, per Nick Friedell of The Athletic.

“I think the biggest thing is that our players face a lot of wrath (from) fans,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets. “I’ve talked to our guys; our guys get nasty social media posts from people who have bet on games. That’s the thing that I don’t like about this the most. Our players should not have to deal with that, but they do. They probably would anyway, even if we didn’t have a partnership with these companies.

Furthermore, Kerr put the issue of sports betting into its present-day context.

“So it’s just kind of the modern life: social media, everyone having access to everyone else. It’s rough. I feel bad for our guys. I’ve gotten some emails in the past from people I don’t know, saying, ‘Hey, thanks a lot. I had money on the game tonight, and you screwed up by subbing so and so in,’ or something like that. I’ve gotten those, too. It’s weird. It’s really weird.”

For those who bet on the Warriors, they made out well. The Warriors defeated the Nuggets in overtime, 137-131.

The Warriors go strictly by the book

Under Kerr, the Warriors run a tight ship, especially when it comes to avoid the temptations of sports betting, per

Prior to Thursday's game, Kerr talked about the protocol his team takes when going over rules and regulations on betting.

“Our legal counsel came and talked to the team four days ago,” Kerr said. “Every team in the league does this. They go through bulletin points of everything: what is allowed and what's not allowed.”

“So our players are well aware — all players are well aware of what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do.”

A far cry from Kerr's playing days in the 1990s when he won five championships, three with the Chicago Bulls (1996, 1997, 1998) and two with the San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003).