The Portland Trail Blazers’ season started in disappointment. Not only did they lose 114-118 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they also lost their head coach, Chauncey Billups, who was arrested on illegal gambling charges by the FBI this Thursday morning.
According to CNBC and NBC News, fellow former NBA players Damon Jones and Terry Rozier were also arrested. This is part of a nationwide illegal gambling crackdown by the Bureau, as each individual was detained in a different part of the country. Billups was arrested in Portland, Jones in Las Vegas, and Rozier in Orlando.
Breaking: Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups has been arrested by the FBI for alleged illegal gambling, sources tell @ShamsCharania.
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— ESPN (@espn) October 23, 2025
FBI Director Kash Patel, alongside the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, is expected to hold a press conference today at 10 am ET to reveal more details about the case and the investigation that led up to the arrest of three former NBA players, including the Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups.
In a comment made to The Athletic, an FBI spokesperson said the following about the purpose of the press conference:
“announce details stemming from two indictments involving illegal gambling schemes.”
There are rumors that other individuals associated with the NBA may have been taken into custody, although their identities are currently unknown.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver On the League’s Attempts to Combat Illegal Gambling, Days Before Chauncey Billups’ Arrest
NBA commissioner Adam Silver appeared on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday and spoke about the NBA’s illegal gambling problem. Here’s what he had to say about the league’s attempts to combat the activity:
“We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score,” Silver said. “We’re trying to put in place — learning as we go and working with the betting companies — some additional control to prevent some of that manipulation.”
Chauncey Billups and company aren’t the first former NBA players arrested this year in connection with illegal gambling. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice and the FBI led another illegal gambling crackdown that ended in the arrest of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, who operated an illegal gambling business alongside a “suspected high-level member of an Israeli transnational organized crime group”. Arenas was freed after paying a $50,000 bond and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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