Russell Westbrook’s Wife, Nina, Reveals Disturbing Message From Sports Bettor: 'Hope You Both Die'

Nina Westbrook, the wife of NBA star Russell Westbrook, recently shared that she received a horrifying message from a fan who lost an online bet.

Russell Westbrook has had a storied career in the NBA after being drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder) in 2008. Today, the nine-time All-Star plays for the Sacramento Kings.

Nina shared an image to her Instagram Stories of a profane email she received from an upset gambler. The email came from Joel Molina and had the subject line "F-ck you."

The rest of the email read: "Your piece of fkn sh-t husband sucks [so] fkn bad can't even get 10 points is pathetic."

It continued, "I hope you both die in a car crash dumb b-tch."

Nina captioned the post: "The negative effects of sports betting. Brings out the worst in ppl smh.."

The message Nina received comes after sports gambling in the United States has continued to grow at a record pace.

According to a previous report from the American Gaming Association, American gamblers were expected to wager a record $1.76 billion legally on the Super Bowl.

"No single event brings fans together like the Super Bowl, and this record figure shows just how much Americans enjoy sports betting as part of the experience," Bill Miller, AGA President and CEO, said. "By choosing legal, regulated sportsbooks, fans are having fun while supporting a safe and responsible market."

According to Casino, other professional athletes have experienced harassment from online gamblers after sporting contests.

Ottawa Senators’ forward Brady Tkachuk said that the harassment from the public got so intense that he had to change personal accounts to stop fans from contacting him.

"It’s not even like winning or scoring. It was like my shots or my hits," Tkachuk said. "I eventually had to change my name, because my Venmo, I had it in college. There’s a selfie of me and my name. People got a hold of that. So I had to change my name on it, and I had to take down my profile picture. So now, when I Venmo people, people are probably like, who the h-ll is Venmoing me?"

Tkachuk implied that receiving messages from fans or sports watchers requesting money sometimes takes him by surprise, mainly because the sportsbooks are the last thing on his mind.

"I’m more pissed that we didn’t win the game or score, or whatever it may be. I could care less about not hitting the four, four and a half, or whatever the cover is, for the bet," he said.

And the unpleasant interactions aren't just limited to the professionals. The NCAA released an official report in November 2025, revealing "36% of D1 men's basketball student-athletes reported experiencing social media abuse related to sports betting within the last year."

"That happens all the time. I got one from a previous game before. They do it all the time," former Butler men's basketball player Pierre Brooks II said. "Like, if people don't meet their over or under, they always DM me. It's actually pretty common."

In 2023, the NCAA launched a campaign to limit the types of props people could wager on. The effort was supposed to regulate the growing industry and protect collegiate athletes' well-being.

"With the legalization of sports betting, it is imperative that we take a proactive approach to protecting student-athletes from the potential of negative engagement with bettors," Morgan Wynee, vice chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, said.

A report from The Blast states that former NBA player Jontay Porter received a lifetime ban from the league after pleading guilty to providing non-public information to gamblers who generated hefty wins.

In court, Jontay acknowledged his wrongdoings, saying he "knew what I did was wrong and unlawful" before adding, "I'm deeply sorry for my conduct."

Jontay's brother, Michael, discussed having an "honest and transparent" conversation with him about the scandal on an episode of his podcast, describing it as much needed for their relationship.

"It was like a therapy session for us because as brothers that was the first time we sat down and really had a full conversation about what really happened, him being super honest and transparent about the entire thing. And it was great," Michael finished.