NBA commissioner Adam Silver has claimed he had a ‘pit in my stomach’ after an FBI investigation into a Mafia-led illegal sports betting operation rocked the league.
The NBA was plunged into chaos on Thursday – just two days into the new season – after the Feds launched a series of overnight arrests that saw Miami Heat star Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups detained.
Both individuals have since been placed on ‘immediate leave’ in wake of the news and now Silver has broken his silence over the matter.
In an interview during Amazon Prime’s coverage of the NBA, Silver said: ‘My initial reaction was that I was deeply disturbed.
DON'T MISS
‘There’s nothing more important to the league and it’s fans than the integrity of the competition. And so, I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting’.
Silver, 63, was then asked about the league’s decision not suspend Rozier – despite allegedly knowing about the gambling activity and launching their own investigation.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has claimed he had a ‘pit in my stomach’ after an FBI investigation into a Mafia-led illegal sports betting operation rocked the league
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups (left) and Miami Heat point guard Terry Rozier (right) were arrested on Thursday as part of an FBI sports gambling probe
In response, the NBA chief explained: ‘So what happened was, because bets were placed through legalized, legal betting companies, they picked up aberrational behavior around a particular game in March of 2023.
‘That was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting companies. We then looked into that situation, and we’re very transparent about it.
‘And while there was that aberrational betting, we frankly couldn’t find anything. Terry at the time cooperated, he gave the league office his phone, he sat down for an interview and we concluded that there was insufficient evidence to move forward.
‘We then worked directly with the law enforcement, as they said at the press conference, that the league has been cooperating. That was obviously over two years ago.
‘So the federal government can threaten to put people in jail and all kinds of things that a league office can’t do.
‘And of course, what they announced was an indictment, so two and a half years later he still hasn’t been convicted of anything, in fairness to Terry.
‘Obviously it doesn’t look good but he’s now been put on administrative leave and so there’s a balance here of protecting people’s rights and investigating’.
The game in question took place on March 23, 2023 when Rozier was a member of the Charlotte Hornets. Rozier ended up leaving the game over nine-and-a-half minutes in and did not play for the rest of the campaign.
Heat star Rozier was investigated by the league earlier this year but served no suspension
Rozier’s arrest comes after sportsbooks in multiple states flagged suspicious betting activity on the player’s statistics ahead of a game on March 23, 2023
However, despite allegedly knowing about the gambling activity, Rozier was not suspended and continued to play in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with both the Hornets and the Heat.
In January, reports emerged that Rozier was under investigation. However, he was not found by the league to have violated any rules.
But the FBI is accusing Rozier of using insider information to place unlawful bets on games from February 2023 to March 2024. As reports allude to, Rozier is being accused of faking injuries to leave contests early and underperforming to let bets hit.
Another former player, Damon Jones, has also been arrested and is alleged to have been involved in two contests that Rozier was involved in.
Meanwhile, Trail Blazers head coach Billups is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families.
The FBI claims it uncovered a decades-long Mafia-led poker ring that is allegedly tied to the Gambino, Bonanno and Genovese crime families, and saw rigged games take place in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Las Vegas, according to prosecutors.
The alleged scheme involved professional athletes, including Billups, being used as ‘face cards’ to attract victims to the table where high-tech methods were used by the Mafia to rig the games, says the indictment.
Chris Heywood, an attorney for Billups, told ESPN on Thursday night that his client is a ‘man of integrity’ who intends to fight the allegations against him.
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was arrested in relation to the alleged scheme
Billups, pictured with his wife Piper Riley, is in his fifth year of coaching Portland
‘Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others,’ Heywood said.
‘To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.’
Yet in Thursday’s press conference, United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. outlined the breathtaking methods used by the group to rig games.
It is alleged that New York’s notorious crime families would use X-ray tables to tilt games in their favor and wear special high-tech contact lenses to read pre-marked cards.
