Trail Blazers coach and NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Heat guard Terry Rozier have been arrested in connection with an FBI investigation into sports betting. according to ESPN.
FBI Director Kash Patel and the Eastern District of New York will hold a press conference Thursday morning to further discuss the case and “numerous arrests in illegal sports betting and poker games,” including two indictments, said a press release.
Rozier, 31, was previously investigated for unusual gambling activities during his time with the Hornets, most notably a game in March 2023.
However, the NBA found no violation.
“In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual gambling activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said earlier this year.
“The league conducted an investigation and found no violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York regarding this matter and have cooperated with that investigation.”
During a March 23, 2023 game against the Pelicans, Rozier left the game after playing the first 9:36 and did not return due to a foot problem in what would be his last game of the season.
He scored five points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal in that time, and an X user posted at the time how they were reportedly tipped that Rozier would retire early.
That knowledge would influence prop betting, where bettors bet on a player’s stats for a game.
According to ESPN, an “unexpected” number of bets came in on Rozier’s Under for that game, leading some sportsbooks to prevent further wagering on its proplines.
Rozier did not comment on the case at the time, and his attorney, Jim Trusty, told ESPN at the time that his client had met with NBA and FBI officials several times in 2023 about the case.
“On the advice of counsel, I cannot answer questions about this,” he said in January.
The former Louisville star did not play in Wednesday’s season-opening 125-121 loss to the Magic in Miami despite being available.
He was arrested Thursday morning at an Orlando hotel, according to ESPN.
Rozier played for the Hornets from 2019-2024 before being acquired by Miami for the 2023-2024 season and is in the final season of a four-year, $96.3 million contract.
Billups, a former NBA star who played in the league from 1997 to 2014, just started his fifth season managing the Trail Blazers.
He spent most of his career with the Pistons, while also suiting up for the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Clippers, Celtics, Raptors and Knicks last year to earn his way into the Hall of Fame.
Billups coached Portland to its season-opening 118-114 loss to the Timberwolves on Wednesday and owns a 117-212 mark to lead the franchise.
The NBA has been at the center of recent sports gambling investigations in the wake of ex-Raptor Jontay Porter receiving a lifetime ban for manipulating his prop markets and betting on games.
“A league investigation found that Porter violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for gambling purposes and betting on NBA games.” the NBA said in its release announcing his ban.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this week on the “Pat McAfee Show” that the NBA is working with sportsbooks as legalized betting continues to grow.
“We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back on some of the prop bets, especially when it comes to two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stakes in the league, where it’s too easy to manipulate something that otherwise seems small and insignificant to the overall score,” Silver said Tuesday.
“Maybe a few rebounds that some players get or something. We’re trying to put in some extra control, and learn as we go and in collaboration with the betting companies, to prevent some of that manipulation.”
#Trail #Blazers #coach #Chauncey #Billups #Heats #Terry #Rozier #arrested #FBI #sports #gambling #investigation