Former NBA bettor says Elon Musk's $44B takeover aided Donald Trump campaign
Former NBA sports bettor and Dallas Mavericks executive Haralabos Voulgaris recently shared his take on how Elon Musk helped Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. Musk, the Chairman of X, was one of the high-profile people who endorsed Trump for president.
In a post on X, Voulgaris thought that Musk buying X (formerly Twitter) for $44 billion would be one of the biggest reasons why Trump wins the election. While he didn't explain why, Musk has promoted Trump on the platform regularly.
Trump doesn't win this election if @elonmusk doesn't buy Twitter," Voulgaris tweeted.
As of this writing, Donald Trump has the lead over Kamala Harris to become the next president of the United States. Elon Musk was one of Trump's biggest supporters during the campaign and even appeared during one of his rallies in New York at the end of October.
Here's what Musk said about helping the United States save $2 trillion, according to the Business Insider:
"I mean, at the end of the day, you're being taxed. You're being taxed. All government spending is taxation, so whether it's direct taxation or all government spending, it either becomes inflation or it's direct taxation. Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We're going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook."
Haralabos Voulgaris has been betting on NBA games since the 1990s. Voulgaris was also a poker player before getting hired by the Dallas Mavericks in October 2018 to serve as Director of Quantitative Research and Development.
He was let go three years later after rumored issues between him and Luka Doncic, as per The Athletic.
Former NBA player wanted Elon Musk to purchase the league
Enes Freedom last played in the NBA during the 2021-22 season with the Boston Celtics. Freedom has not returned to the league and even claimed that the league blackballed him due to some comments he made that were allegedly controversial.
He told Fox Sports in October 2022 that he wanted Elon Musk to buy the league so that he could play again.
"That would be my dream, you know?" Freedom said. "I think what he's doing for free speech is amazing. And I think that he can bring some justice to the NBA and finally maybe I can get to play basketball."
According to Statista, the average value of an NBA team is around $4 billion. If multiplied by 30, the estimated worth of the league is at least $120 billion.