The FBI has reportedly arrested Terry Rozier, NBA legend Chauncey Billups, and former NBA player Damon Jones, among 30 other names accused in connection with a sports betting scandal that has been suspected in the NBA. While the investigations remain ongoing, we receive updates, such as Rozier being accused of receiving $200,000 in payments after bettors cashed in on his ‘under’ for the night when he played for the Charlotte Hornets in 2023.
But one of the most startling updates was the claim from ESPN insider Brian Windhorst that implied that the NBA already knew about the betting scandal long before the FBI got involved. He seems to believe that they tried to handle the matter internally to avoid a public scandal, as it has now become. They would now therefore have to answer the FBI’s queries on the same.
“The NBA at some point is going to have to explain why Terry Rozier was allowed to keep playing,” said Windhorst on the Rich Eisen show recently.
“The sports books caught the irregular betting on the day it happened, when all of a sudden, there were hundreds of thousands of dollars coming in on Terry Rozier unders for a relatively meaningless game in March (2023) involving the Charlotte Hornets.”
“The sports books caught it and reported it to the NBA, and guess what, Rozier didn’t play for the rest of the season. He had faked the injury, so it wasn’t because of the injury; the NBA pulled him,” Windhorst further added as he also mentioned the infamous NBA player Jontay Porter in the situation.
“The NBA and the sports books’ protection measures triggered this. They caught it, and I think the issue is that Jontay Porter was convicted and tossed out of the league within weeks. Rozier didn’t, and I don’t know if Rozier is guilty; the NBA obviously didn’t feel that he was, or they wouldn’t have allowed him to play.”
“But this indictment implies that there was a swath of conspirators, like his cousins and their friends, all the way down to the low-level guys who won money on this bet and then immediately bet their winnings on another game and lost all of it,” said Windhorst as he explained the betting patterns that exposed this potential scandal.
“The NBA either didn’t discover about that or knew about it and cleared him anyway; they’re going to have to answer about that,” said Windhorst in conclusion.
Windhorst essentially claims that the internal investigation into these accusations began in 2023 when the original situation with Jontay Porter was exposed. And Terry Rozier was also pulled for the season to be investigated by the league.
And considering that Rozier was allowed to play and Porter was found guilty, the NBA front office will now be liable to answer why he was cleared. Depending on whether the FBI suspects that someone tried to sweep the investigation findings under a rug, this could unearth some conspirators in the league office, if Rozier is found undoubtedly guilty.
Insider Explains The Accusations Against Chauncey Billups In The NBA Betting Scandal
Brian Windhorst initially explained how there were mainly two separate cases that were driving the FBI’s investigation into the alleged betting scandal in the league. First was involving illegal poker games, and secondly, the leaking of sensitive league information.
Windhorst claims that Billups has been implicitly named in both cases, but mainly should expect scrutiny over the leaking of information and not the poker games. On the same segment of the Rich Eisen show, Windhorst explained why Billups was under investigation.
“I’m not downplaying the poker thing. The NBA isn’t concerned today with whether people who were playing in illegal poker games got defrauded. I mean, you know, they may feign that they care about that, but you know, they don’t care about that.”
“They care about sensitive information about their players and their games. And so what Chauncey is being accused of is, you know, there was a tanking job going out in 2023 because people were really interested in getting their hands on Victor Wembanyama. And the Blazers didn’t participate in that tanking situation.”
“And there was a moment in March of that year where the Blazers basically seemed to have decided to put their tank in overdrive, and they decided they were not going to play their regulars anymore, but specifically they were not going to play Dame Lillard.”
“And there was this day, I can’t remember who they were playing. Um, maybe the Jazz. Damian was listed as probable with calf tightness. And according to the indictment, I’m not saying it happened. I just said, according to the indictment, Chauncey told somebody that Dame wasn’t going to play amongst other players, even though he was listed as probable.”
“As the day went along, he was switched to questionable and then out. And then he never played again the rest of the season. And the Blazers lost 15 of their last 17 games and ended up with Scoot Henderson, the number two pick, but not the number one pick.”
While of course, tanking is a part of team strategy that is questionable but not illegal per se. However, if Billups indulged in the leaking of information on player availability, then he could face very harsh consequences for his NBA career as a coach.
FBI Makes A Statement On NBA Betting Scandal, Alleges Italian Mafia Involvement
FBI Director Kash Patel addressed the media with the Department of Justice just hours after the nationwide arrests allowed 30 potential conspirators to be taken into custody. He revealed the nature of the investigations and, to some extent, explained what they are looking for and have found so far.
“But as you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today. Former and current NBA players and coaches. What you don’t know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years,” said Patel in the press conference.
“The FBI led a coordinated takedown across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing. Not only did we crack into the fraud that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA, but we also entered and executed a system of justice against La Cosa Nostra,” Patel further added while revealing the potential involvement of the Italian Mafia, La Cosa Nostra.
“And the fraud is mind-boggling. It’s not hundreds of dollars. It’s not thousands of dollars. It’s not tens of thousands of dollars. It’s not even millions of dollars. We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft, and robbery across a multi-year investigation,” said the FBI director in conclusion.
Clearly, the investigation is ongoing, and the NBA league office might also be questioned in this matter. And while Windhorst predicts that this might not be as big a scandal as it is being played out to be, the NBA world seems worried about no longer trusting the authenticity of the game.
