NBA Suffers Major Betting Scandal

By Jacob Nadelhaft

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones have been arrested as part of investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the mafia. Billups and Rozier have been removed from their teams, the NBA said in a statement.

A total of 34 people were arrested as a result of a years-long investigation covering 11 states and involving tens of millions of dollars, FBI director Kash Patel said. 

Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using insider NBA information. As part of the scheme, gamblers used nonpublic information to bet on at least seven NBA games between March 2023 and March 2024 involving the Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic, Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Toronto Raptors. Rozier had private information known only by NBA players and coaches that would likely affect the outcome of games or players' performances, according to the indictment. 

Billups is charged with participating in a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families. Billups was not named in the sports betting incident, but he is described as having allegedly told a bettor that several Trail Blazers players would miss a March 2023 game.

Jones, who played and coached for the Cavaliers, and worked as an unofficial assistant coach for the Lakers during the 2022-23 NBA season, allegedly sold information to bettors, according to the indictment. Jones had a very close relationship with an unnamed big-time NBA player during his time with the Cavaliers and Lakers. Most believe that the player is Lebron James. Before the Lakers played a game vs the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 9, 2023, Jones texted a better to, “bet big on the Bucks tonight” since their most prominent player was not playing, which was not public until later in the day. Lebron James ended up not playing, resulting in a Lakers loss. 

"The integrity of the game is paramount to NBA players, but so is the presumption of innocence, and both are hindered when player popularity is misused to gain attention," a National Basketball Players Association spokesperson said in a statement. Billups and Rozier have been indicted on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Both counts carry no more than 20 years in prison.