In a shocking piece of news, reports are coming through which state that Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling activities.
ESPN is among the outlets to have reported that Billups was taken into custody on Thursday morning in connection with a probe conducted by the U.S. Attorneyâs Office for the Eastern District of New York, assisted by the FBI.
Blazers’ Opening Night Debacle
At the time of writing, the specifics of the charges against Billups have not been publicly disclosed. However, according to the Associated Press, the arrest is part of a broader investigation into sports betting irregularities.
Sources indicate that the allegations against Billups are not related to any games he has coached for the Trail Blazers.
Billups, a former five-time All-Star, began coaching the Trail Blazers in June 2021, his first head coaching gig after previously working as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers. He signed a four-year extension back in April that will keep him under contract until the end of the 2027-18 season. Billups’s Blazers team had played their season opener on Wednesday night, a close loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, before news of the arrest was made public.
Also arrested in connection with the investigation on the same morning was an active NBA player, Terryâ¯Rozier of the Miamiâ¯Heat. It remains unclear whether his case and Billupsâ are directly linked.
The NBA has yet to issue a substantive public statement regarding Billupsâs arrest.
Gambling Threat To NBA’s Integrity
Billupsâs arrest marks one of the most significant scandals involving an active NBA head coach in recent years. The news of his and Rozier’s arrests will also further add to the leagueâs growing concern around illegal sports wagering and the potential for manipulation of gaming markets.
The arrests of Billups and Rozier have intensified growing concern in and around the NBA about the sportâs relationship with legalized gambling in America. Since the Supreme Courtâs 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA that struck down the federal ban on sports wagering under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), betting on professional basketball has expanded rapidly across most states. While the ruling opened lucrative commercial opportunities for teams, leagues, and media partners, it also created new risks for the integrity of competition – and fears of a Pete Rose-esque situation one day becoming manifest.
The NBA, once a staunch opponent of legal sports betting, has since embraced it in a regulated form, such as through establishing partnerships with sportsbooks such as FanDuel. Yet any blending of athletic competition and gambling markets has complex ethical questions, and a substantial risk factor – something the NBA has already seen first hand.
In April 2024, former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter became the first active NBA player to be banned for life for gambling violations. Porter was found to have shared confidential health information and intentionally limited his own playing time to influence wagering outcomes. In response, as well as banning Porter, the NBA strengthened its internal compliance programs, expanding education on gambling restrictions and establishing direct lines of communication with sportsbook integrity units and federal investigators.
Despite these reforms, however, the arrests of Rozier and Billups suggest that the league will continue to have the issue loom large, indefinitely. Porter’s case was not the first such scandal to have hit the NBA, and nor will it be the last.
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