Those in the NBA office went to bed Wednesday night on top of the sports world, knowing the torch was being passed to players such as Victor Wembanyama, who had turned in a 40-point showcase, and Anthony Edwards, who had produced a 41-point effort.
They woke up Thursday morning to a nightmare.
Trail Blazers head coach — and NBA champion and Basketball Hall of Famer — Chauncey Billups, Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cavaliers player/assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested as part of an investigation related to illegal sports betting and Mafia-backed rigged poker games.
According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the three were among 34 people arrested in operations that had been going on for years and involved ‘‘tens of millions of dollars.’’
Billups and Rozier were put on immediate leave, and now the NBA has some serious cleanup to do — both within the league and outside it, given the perception that will come from this.
For Rozier, it was about providing inside information in an illegal sports-betting scheme. For Billups, who was arrested in Oregon after his team played Wednesday night, and Jones, the allegations center on their involvement in a scheme to rig poker games backed by Mafia families, prosecutor Joseph Nocella Jr. said.
The report alleges Billups used his fame and standing in the league to lure unsuspecting players and coaches into rigged poker games.
‘‘We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today,’’ the NBA office said in a statement. ‘‘Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.’’
It better. This kind of news might be crippling if NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn’t get in front of it immediately.
Gambling scandals are nothing new for the NBA, especially with the league embracing partnerships with gambling companies the last few years. And such partnerships aren’t about to be dissolved.
The Raptors’ Jontay Porter was banned from the league last season for his alleged involvement in prop bets involving himself, as well as for giving out inside information.
Porter isn’t Billups, however. And no matter how this ends, the NBA will be battling the public perception that what fans and ticket-holders are watching and investing in is staged, nothing more than a crooked shell game on a street corner.
That will be a death sentence for the NBA unless Silver drops the hammer and reiterates that any players or coaches involved in any sort of gambling — specifically within their own sport — will face a lifetime ban.
That message is reinforced every preseason to every team. Obviously, however, not everyone is listening. Silver’s next move must change that, making it loud and clear.