NBA has been rocked with a series of arrests regarding illegal betting and gambling the same week that the 2025/26 season starts. Among the people arrested by the FBI there's an active player on Miami Heat, Terry Rozier, and the coach of Portland Trail Blazers and former player and 2004 NBA Champion, Chauncey Billups. They have been arrested in separated but "related" gambling cases.
Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal scheme where he traded insider information: he is suspect of manipulating his performance in the game to suite sports gambles made by his accomplices, a similar situation that happened with a Sevilla player in LaLiga. In particular, FBI mentions a match in March 2023, where he allegedly faked an injury to leave the pitch early, tipping off his accomplices, who had betted $200,000 that he would underperform his statistics.
Six people were arrested in this fraud, including Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones.
Meanwhile, 31 people were arrested, including Billups (an NBA legend picked five times in All-Star team) in a scheme to rig underground poker games involcing other coaches, that were backed by Mafia families.
FBI Director Kash Patel described this arrests and investigation as "historic". It is expected that NBA commissioner Adam Silver will make some kind of statement soon. This happens two days after Silver said in a podcast that they were working to fight manipulation on bet sites, via ESPN.