It's time to fold on the NBA's gambling subculture

Two pieces of advice come to mind, one for Tony Allen and one for every other player in the NBA. For the masses: Don't mess with Tony Allen. For Allen: Don't clown around in the pregame huddle before the Memphis Grizzlies' next game, throwing faux haymakers and pretending to knock teammates out.

Allen, who according to sources was subjected to constant mockery by Mayo over a debt Mayo owed, wasn't in a joking mood and didn't give his victim a choice of which fist he was going to hit him with first. While sources said Allen was doing everything he could to back down and defuse the situation, Mayo continued to mouth off at him -- demonstrating what one executive called "a gross lack of judgment on O.J.'s part."

"Most people don't quite get the denominations at stake or the testosterone that's at stake," said the executive, who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss another team's business. "Tony Allen is one of the very few guys in the league I would greatly urge every NBA player not to [expletive] with."

The injuries inflicted were significant enough for Mayo to miss the Grizzlies' game Tuesday night against the Thunder under the chuckle-inducing guise of bronchitis. The predictable reaction came Wednesday, when the Grizzlies banned all gambling on team flights, effective immediately.

Is that the answer? Of the 23 teams that responded to a survey by CBSSports.com Wednesday as to their policies on gambling and card games on team flights, only two said they're forbidden -- and one of them was the Grizzlies, who obviously just joined this very exclusive club. A common response was that playing cards for money is allowed on flights, but no cash can be displayed at any time. Three teams said they allow gambling but limit the stakes, while another one said it's allowed -- but not after a loss.

Five teams said they don't have a ban on gambling, but stipulated that they don't currently have a regular group of card players. But one team official, who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information, said he recently saw a player lose $20,000 playing cards on a single flight. It's easy to understand why tempers could flare, especially when players of vastly different incomes are engaged in high-stakes games.

"When you've got somebody making $20 million vs. somebody making $300,000," one former player said, "that's like a sword vs. a nuclear bomb."

Anecdotal evidence and interviews with team officials and former players Wednesday suggested that it's typical for a team to have a small but regular group of card players who pass the time on flights all over the country with games of various stakes. Blowups like the one between Allen and Mayo are rare, but there are -- and have been for decades -- incidents the public never finds out about.

"There's always that mysterious DNP in the middle of February when the guy isn't around for a couple of days," one of the team executives said.