Damian Lillard has taken a stand for his coach and called out the Utah Jazz veteran Kevin Love for his controversial Instagram post, where he was trolling Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier after they were arrested in the FBI’s probe into the NBA’s alleged betting scandal.
“Weak a** sh**,” Lillard wrote in the comments section of the post when he saw his head coach being scrutinized in an immature manner.
Damian Lillard reacts to Kevin Love’s IG post on Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier being arrested by the FBI for gambling:
“Weak a** sh*t” pic.twitter.com/S3LVbZh3r2
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) October 24, 2025
Subsequently, the former Heat veteran deleted the post and issued an apology, where he claimed that he had a personal conversation with Lillard and realized his mistake.
“Spoke to Dame, and he opened my eyes on this being a real situation for two of my former teammates and brothers. I took the particular post down because we all know they are going through it. As are their collective families,” wrote Love on his Instagram story.
— #FreeKarmelo (@newtoyourlife17) October 24, 2025
Billups and Love played together for Team USA in the 2010 FIBA World Championship; meanwhile, Love and Rozier were teammates on the Heat. Therefore, Love realized that he’s not being fair to the people he is supposed to have a close relationship with, or at least not wish any harm upon.
Lillard, who is sidelined likely for the rest of the season, also finds himself linked to the NBA betting scandal. But not enough to say that he has done anything wrong. According to ESPN Insider Brian Windhorst, the FBI’s indictments claim that Billups had allegedly informed some external co-conspirators of the Blazers’ plans to intentionally bench Lillard back in 2023 when they were tanking for Victor Wembanyama.
Thus, while he has not directly done anything illegal himself, if true, it was information about him that allegedly helped Billups make some unlawful gains. Both Billups and Rozier are now out of the FBI’s custody on bail. While Rozier reportedly gave a $6 million bond to earn his freedom, the bond amount for Billups remains unknown for now.
Chauncey Billups leaving the courthouse in Portland, Oregon 👀
He was arrested early Thursday morning as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling activities. pic.twitter.com/OGjRNmeHyG
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) October 23, 2025
The Lakers’ volunteer assistant and former NBA player, Damon Jones, has also been named and arrested alongside these two in the case where he allegedly helped co-conspirators make gains by leaking that LeBron James would not play in a Cavaliers game right after breaking Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s record in 2023, among other such games. It still remains unknown if he has come out on bail or not.
The FBI seems to believe that there is a connection with the Italian Mafia ‘La Cosa Nostra’ that is involved in this NBA betting scandal, which could be valued as a scam worth upwards of tens of millions of dollars.
Therefore, Love has realized that this is not something that can be passed off as a joke, and his words seem like a low blow in a time when he needs to support his former teammates if they are actually not guilty of what they are accused of.
