Mike McDonald makes high stakes basketball prop bet
Can Timex sink 90 out of 100 free throws by the end of the year?
The gambling world is looking for something, anything, to bet on with a lockdown on pretty much every major sport right now. One man who will usually give you action in poker is Mike 'Timex' McDonald and he has set up a big money prop bet.
After going back and forth on the finer details on Twitter, he has made a bet that he can sink 90 of 100 attempts at a basketball free throw this year.
Alright I figured out terms:
- I must sink 90/100 free throws on an attempt. I get unlimited attempts
- regulation ball, regulation hoop, lane violations not allowed
- Even money
- Bet lasts until end of 2020— Mike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89) April 5, 2020
This attempt is something most NBA stars could not manage. The all time record for free throws is 90.56% for Steph Curry, however these were obviously not consecutive.
Speaking of which, the consecutive nature of the challenge is not to be understated, as physical condition is likely to play a big role:
This is a random sample of what’s happening, he started out shooting ~12/min at <50%, and is now doing ~9/min at >50%. He is fucking tired, out of shape quarantine life pic.twitter.com/KG1C7aQgNV
— Aaron Jones (@aejonesleggo) April 3, 2020
One poster on TwoPlusTwo has worked out McDonald needs to improve his ability to free throw to about 75% success rate in order to be a favourite to win this bet.
Mike McDonald has said publicly that he has taken just under $200,000 in bets on this task and is using it as a way to get in better shape, especially because of the lockdown.
This is not the first basketball prop bet a poker player has been involved in. In 2014 Ville Wahlbeck won a $200,000 bet he could sink 46 of 100 three pointers, having never played basketball before.
Can he do it? Let us know in the comments:
