What we know about the Billups-Rozier NBA gambling cases - ESPN

On Thursday, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones were indicted in a pair of sweeping federal investigations into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.

Here's what our ESPN reporters know about the allegations, what's next for the people involved and what this might mean for the NBA.

What are the two cases?

Doug Greenberg: Though they both involve current and former NBA players, the FBI made clear in its news conference that these are two separate cases, albeit with some overlap.

The first involves betting on NBA games, using insider information from players and coaches, and the second involves rigging high-stakes, Mafia-associated poker games against high rollers after enticing them to play with former NBA players, including Jones and Billups.

What is the FBI alleging happened in the sports betting case?

Brian Windhorst: That NBA players have taken themselves out of games, allegedly to win «under» prop bets, and that people with inside knowledge have leaked information about player availability before it was made public.

According to the case filing, between December 2022 and March 2024, a group of co-conspirators placed bets on at least seven NBA games using nonpublic information. Those games involved the Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic, Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors.

Rozier is accused of sharing inside information, removing himself early from at least one game for the benefit of gamblers and profiting from those bets, according to the indictment.

Jones, who was an unofficial part of Darvin Ham's Lakers coaching staff in the 2022-2023 season, allegedly sold inside information about the player