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Last night, the NBA preseason slate had multiple stat errors. The NBA.com play by play is completely broken and the box score was even deemed unofficial! Yet, Draftkings still thought it was okay to completely dismiss video and picture evidence which I will provide for you in this post. I am getting automated and generic responses which I will also post.

Draftkings customer support is usually very good but the responses I have received today are absolutely maddening. I’ll now review the box score that Draftkings deemed legitimate.

link to the tweet that the box score wasn’t legitimate: “https://twitter.com/timbontemps/status/915810550612992000”

Here’s the end of the game announcers talking about the stats being broken. Go to 9:15 in the video. Also note the score is 122-104 in the video, and NBA.com has the score at 128-107!

Now, lets get into the box score and prove just a handful of stat errors

1) Will Barton had 0 blocks according to the stats provider… Also there were 50 seconds that never happened.

The play by play has a 50 second gap that excludes Will Barton’s block along with a variety of other plays. See the link below:

https://imgur.com/a/8idOM

2) Paul Millsap apparently got a turnover and assist despite not being in the arena!

https://imgur.com/a/41qdp

3) Kenneth Faried’s 8 points in one second. Along with a 3 pointer! Reggie Miller who? I promise you Faried did not hit a 3 and I had exposure to Faried. Not just saying this because it cost me. Just proving how terrible the box score was.

https://imgur.com/a/sV7yO

4) Julius Randle getting 2 turnovers in a row! I guess he turned the ball over and it was magically Lakers ball again!

https://imgur.com/a/e9xMK

5) Jamal Murray’s turnover, Kyle Kuzma’s steal and then Jamal getting 2 free throws!

https://imgur.com/a/QPQ3M

These are 5 of the many examples that I don’t have video evidence for, but I assure you this box score has double digit serious mistakes. I notified draftkings about all of them and got these pathetic responses!

Me

Oct 5, 1:52 PM EDT

I cannot believe you guys paid out those contests without even a response to all of the examples i sent you. For the record, there are dozens more. Like Kenneth Faried scoring 8 points in one second. These changes cost me hundreds of dollars, and they were incorrect.

Response

Hi Warren,

Support informed us they responded to your last inquiry. Our Game Operations team looked into all stats, and came to an agreement that our statistics were up to date with our statistics provider then paid out contests. We are not able to make these calls ourselves the official scoring is determined by our statistics provider.
_________
DraftKings
VIP Relations Associate

Me

Oct 5, 2:23 PM EDT

You guys looked into all the stats? I guess you guys are in agreement that Kenneth Faried had 8 points in one second, Will Barton’s block in the 5th row didn’t happen and Jamal Murray turned the ball over then got free throws. All of these false stats cost me hundreds of dollars. This is only the bginning of the list and this is an absolute joke. You guys paid out real money contests based off of an obviously incorrect unofficial box score.

Response

Oct 5, 2:36 PM EDT

Hi Warren,

We matched our official statistics providers box scores before paying out any contests. This is standard operating procedure, and it keeps any and all bias out of it. We can only go by the statistics that we are provided. We sent along your points to the correct team who spoke with our provider, and they decided that the statistics were correct.

________
DraftKings
VIP Relations Associate

Me

Oct 5, 2:41 PM EDT

Bias? you guys are the ones that are biased. You don’t want to admit that the box score is 100% wrong, and instead you want to make money. Take the easy way out. The nba stat system has not been rectified and there are preseason contests out there again tonight. It’s clear you guys just want your money and don’t give a shit.

Response

Oct 5, 2:45 PM EDT

Hi Warren,

We certainly care very much so about the customer experience. If we did not care about the customer we would have just paid out the contests last night with zero due diligence. Our statistics provider worked to confirm all of the statistics, and we did not pay out until our Game Operations team had our statistics fully aligned with them.
________
DraftKings
VIP Relations Associate

These responses are sickening to me as I spent a ton of time gathering all of this evidence. The fake stats directly knocked me out of approximately 400-500$ of winnings and I know there were other mistakes from earlier in the day. I feel ripped off, robbed, and I know fanduel did the exact same thing. I was hoping to resolve this quietly through email, but this is absolutely unacceptable customer service.

I am seriously questioning my future with this already shady website.

If you can find a pattern with the screwed up stats, please feel free to share your findings! The only players that i noticed had messed up stats in my lineups were Davis, Cousins and almost every Detroit player i took the other day. Now that you mention it i’m definitely going to glance at the lineups from two days ago and see if there were any obvious trends in screwed up stats.

Paul Millsap, apparently.

If DK can’t guarantee the stats for the game (as in, be responsible for recording accurate results), they shouldn’t offer the game.

Even if it’s not their fault, they shouldn’t offer the game until their stat provider can assure accuracy.

The real question is…

Is the stat provider playing DK, too?

Here are two obvious examples that directly caused me to bubble the tournament.

View post on imgur.com

https://twitter.com/Kirkdiese/status/916155673708253184

https://twitter.com/Kirkdiese/status/916141393567010818

Not sure how DK can pass the blame off to the shitty stats provider when they’re the one that hired them and put their name/contests behind it

Doesn’t work like that

When people are losing thousands because of this I can understand the frstration

I’ve never played NBA DFS but this is pretty bad and it seems like just shutting down the games for the rest of the pre-season would be a simple solution. I don’t get why they haven’t done this, if the tournaments aren’t filling than it isn’t like they are going to be making a ton of money anyway. If they are only 60% full I can understand the urge to play because of the overlay but it is still going to be so tough to trust if the stats are that bad.

Draftkings continues to ignore me.

Sadly it’s because they can. Until a “real” watchdog is in place, neither DK or FD will feel the need for transparency in situations like this.

I’m curious how many stat errors happened in your favor? Obviously you’re all over the ones that may have hurt you but is it possible there were other errors that got you extra points in the first place? I’m pretty sure you had some things that helped you but of course you wouldn’t point those out right? So they’re supposed to just take your word cause you linked a couple screen shots and now pay you out whatever prize you think you deserve? Nobody’s holding a gun to your head to make you play. Hell, this is the first preseason I’ve ever seen with “live” scoring. Past years you got a box score after the game, and I can’t imagine many games were on TV for people to actually verify they were legit. I just don’t understand why if you noticed previous problems would you put so much money in play?

Anyways, I don’t think it’s a problem with the stats system, preseason games of all sports have been notorious for scoring errors.

While I get that it is an issue, I am really not sure what DK can do about it outside of
maybe putting a banner on the website letting everyone know that there are issues with the scoring. They have to go by the stat provider otherwise there are huge other problems. And the vast majority of the stats are correct (and there is still a massive edge in preseason NBA) so I really hope they don’t just stop offering the contests. You are as likely to benefit from an error as you are to be hurt by one, so it seems like it’s just part of the game until it is resolved. I do think they should make everyone aware of the issue though so they have complete information when deciding whether or not to risk their money.

this

I would just think for them that they would just stop having the product. It seems pretty risky to continue to run the slates knowing that there is a clear issue with the stats. I just think it could lead to some bad PR if it gets into the wrong hands and for some reason ESPN or someone decides they have nothing better to cover and it ends up becoming a bigger issue than it actually is (sorry for those who lost money but in the grand scheme of DFS, NBA preseason is a blip on the radar)

What are you talking about? There were numerous errors with the Olympic basketball scoring. Assists, rebounds, and even points were off. I counted multiple blocks and steals that weren’t being counted right. It’s the same thing. You just didn’t “lose” money so you didn’t complain.

Like I said it can help you it can hurt you. Just think about this as an “extra layer of variance”. It’s no different than a tip ball catch or some freak baseball play. It’s extra variance can hurt or help you. 0 EV. If you don’t like it don’t play.

It’s the risk you take when you play preseason basketball. The more amazing thing is apparently people watch preseason basketball and note these errors.

Yeah, this is why I wish they would just make it clear that there are issues with the scoring. Even when factoring in additional score-related variance, NBA preseason is still very much worth playing from a profit standpoint. The only place where it looks shady from an optics perspective is that people who aren’t on Twitter or forums are unaware of the issues. If the sites essentially say “this is how it is, play if you want to” then it’s a lot harder for it to be spun unfavorably

I feel like they need to issue refunds less any winnings that people may have received by playing preseason slates. This isn’t right, the scoring has been so horrible we can’t tell what’s correct and what isnt. As consumers we deserve better than this.

I think the whole situation is crazy and it’s not a variance thing like late swap essentially is because you have all season to realize it. Preseason is a tiny window and if you are directly affected in a negative manner you are screwed and DK’s response has been very poor. DK’s answer has been we made sure stats were correct bc they match the provider, but they are NOT correct. I’ve watched every game I can and it’s incredible how off they have been.

What I also find funny is that people have been producing content on stats that I know are flat out wrong, even if that’s what the box score lists. Not an attack, it’s the scorekeepers/stat provider/NBA’s fault, but it would make more sense for touts to say the stats have been wrong and just look forward and go off beat writer reports as opposed to CJ McCollum played 34 minutes last game, etc…

Yeah I don’t disagree with any of that. But are you still playing preseason NBA even though you know the stats are off? I know I sure am. Because I think it is profitable even with the risk that there is a scoring error that hurts me. There are ways to relatively accurately predict the games still even without accurate box scores-primarily beat reports- so I think there is still an edge. My only issue is the way that DK has handled it because that is what can ultimately make them (and the whole industry) look bad. I think if they just made it clear they were having issues up front there wouldn’t really be anything for people to complain about when they lose

Stats being off (and sometime way off) obviously sucks, but as people have pointed out, hopefully you get the good and bad with that. The real issue is if someone who works for the Stat tracking company is eligible to play on a site like Draftkings. Can you imagine how much more money you’d make each day if you could pick just ONE player to have 2 DK less than they truly earned, and ONE player to have 2dk more than they truly earned? Now think of someone being able to to manipulate as many players as they want? That’s like being a superuser in poker who gets to decide what the Flop, Turn, and River are after the cards have been turned face up…

I’m not suggesting this is currently going on, but the fact that DK hasn’t prohibited these people from playing on the site yet means it could be happening. (I hope I’m wrong, and they are NOT allowed to play on the site, but DK hasn’t responded to me and as far as I know they are allowed).

This isn’t about stats being wrongly entered. I think the stats system is screwed up so that even when the score keepers correctly enter the information, the stats still are incorrect. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

say to hell with DK until this shit is straightened out

Had anyone looked at the winning teams each night to see if there were blatant stat errors in favor of those players?

I sense a hint of conspiracy in this post. However, I can say that I was the beneficiary of a stat error last season in a small slate GPP. I should have finished 2nd but a rebound with a few seconds left in the game was not credited to the player (don’t remember who it was). The guy who finished 2nd had rostered that player and I did not.