Mere days into the NBA season, the league was stunned by a shocking gambling scandal that involves current players and coaches. Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups, former Cleveland Cavaliers guard and current Assistant Coach Damon Jones, and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested on Oct. 23 in an FBI probe which revealed that they, along with 31 others, were involved in a mafia-led, illegal underground gambling ring.
March 23, 2023, Rozier — a member of the Charlotte Hornets at the time — played nine minutes in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Before leaving with what the team claimed to be a foot injury, Rozier scored five points, recorded four rebounds, had two assists, and a steal.
Leaving a game with an injury isn’t abnormal for players in the league. However, the $200,000 bet on Rozier’s “unders” before the game did set off alarms, a suspicion that was confirmed when Interim U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella from the Eastern District of New York said Rozier and Jones shared insider information with organized crime groups in an exchange for a percentage of the profits.
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, maintains the guard did have a real injury. NBA Spokesperson Mike Bass affirmed that an MRI confirmed Rozier’s injury.
The amount of wagers coming in on Rozier before the March 23 contest alerted sportsbooks of suspicious activity, which led them to inform the NBA. The league conducted their own investigation of Rozier and allowed him to continue playing. The 31-year-old appeared in 125 games over the past two seasons.
“At the time, we did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that Rozier violated league rules,” Bass told The Athletic. “As is typical for NBA investigations, this conclusion was subject to any new evidence [the NBA] might receive.”
Rozier, who was arrested on Oct. 23 at a hotel in Orlando, FL, hotel for his alleged participation in an illegal sports betting scheme, was in the midst of his 11th NBA season. This year, he is under contract for $26.6 million and has career earnings north of $160 million.
FBI Director Kash Patel claims the yearlong investigation spans 11 states and involves tens of millions of dollars. Using insider information from the NBA, gamblers bet on at least seven NBA games involving the Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, and Charlotte Hornets between March 2023 and March 2024. According to the indictment, gamblers received information from contacts on the teams listed above. Two players were active: Rozier and Raptors forward Jontay Porter.
Porter already received a lifetime ban from the NBA last season after he was found guilty of providing insider information during games on Jan. 26, 2024 and March 20, 2024. He texted his co-conspirator, Shane Hennen, during the game to provide updated information. Similar to Rozier, Porter left the January contest against the Los Angeles Clippers with an eye injury and the March matchup against the Sacramento Kings due to an illness.
“Let’s not, you know, mince words,” Patel said. “This is the insider trading saga for the NBA, that’s what this is.”
Billups, who was arrested in Oregon, was charged on a separate indictment for his involvement in rigging a large pool of poker games that were backed by the mafia. Although Billups was not specifically named in the sports betting indictment, the description of a co-conspirator who reportedly told a bettor that multiple Trail Blazers players who would be out in a March 2023 game had a coaching and playing career that lined up with Billups, per ESPN.
Billups was allegedly involved in a scheme involving multiple poker games in Las Vegas in 2019. The scheme involved X-ray card tables, rigged shufflers, and marked decks, which in turn cheated players out of over $7 million.
Playing the role of a “face card” in the scheme, Billups organized and gathered people to play in games where a triggered shuffling machine was used. In October 2020, after another rigged game, Billups was wired $50,000.
Billups denies these claims.
Jones, an 11-year veteran, was indicted in both cases.
Rozier is scheduled to appear in front of a judge on Dec. 8 while Billups will appear on Nov. 24.
Billups — a five-time All-Star during his playing days — Rozier, and Jones have been placed on administrative leave by the NBA. During this time, their salaries will be placed in escrow.
Looking ahead to the NBA season, there were enticing storylines everywhere. The Oklahoma City Thunder, fresh off the franchise’s first championship and led by reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, were beginning their quest for a repeat. Luka Doncic kicked off his first full season with the Lakers. The first pick in the draft, Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg was making his much-anticipated debut. Yet, in the first week, the national storyline was a gambling scandal.
The NBA, along with other major American leagues, has become increasingly intertwined with sports betting companies. A study done by the American Gaming Association revealed that in 2025 alone, the NBA is projected to create $425 million in revenue from fan engagement with sports betting and another $160 million in revenue directly from gambling corporations through sponsorships and advertisements.
The growing partnerships the league has with DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM make gambling seem all but encouraged. Sitting through an NBA game without hearing an ad read or seeing a courtside sponsorship for a gambling company is not feasible. The NBA is simply generating too much revenue to stop now.
In 2007, the NBA dealt with a similar gambling scandal that involved a referee, Tim Donaghy. Similar to Porter and Rozier, Donaghy gained national notoriety when his recently-developed gambling addiction directly impacted outcomes of the games he officiated. The scandal blindsided the league, as Donaghy was a respected refree of 13 seasons. Similarly, Rozier who was a well-respected scorer in the league — averaging over 20 points per game twice in his career — was quick to find himself muddled in today’s scandal.
Following the 2007 scandal, league revenue grew from $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion the following season. A decade later, revenue skyrocketed to $7.4 billion. And last season, according to Forbes, revenue hit an all-time high mark at over $12.5 billion.
The NBA has recovered financially in the past and will likely recover in the future.
However, the urge — no matter how small or large — to question if a professional athlete is throwing games for gambling purposes now exists. This notion may hurt the league more in the long run than any financial numbers suggest.
Events where athletes throw games are becoming increasingly less isolated. The scandal is shocking, but not surprising given the NBA’s relationship with gambling companies.
In 2014, current NBA commissioner Adam Silver wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times pushing for the legalization and regulation of sports betting.
“Betting on professional sports is currently illegal in most of the United States outside Nevada,” Silver began. “I believe we need a different approach.”
Maybe it’s once again time to consider a different approach.
