New York (AFP) – Former NBA player Damon Jones, once close to LeBron James having worked alongside him at the Los Angeles Lakers, pleaded not guilty Thursday in two separate cases involving illegal gambling. In the first case, he is accused with several others of participating in a rigged betting scheme based on sharing confidential information from the locker room. He allegedly advised members of the network to bet on the Milwaukee Bucks against the Lakers, knowing that LeBron was injured and would not play. Hours later, James announced his withdrawal, and the Lakers were defeated.
The second case involves a national network of Mafia-linked rigged poker games involving around 30 people and the use of highly sophisticated cheating equipment including X-ray tables. Jones allegedly used his notoriety to lure victims into the rigged games, before receiving a share of the profits. Coach Chauncey Billups, who won the NBA championships in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons, is charged in the illegal poker case.
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Accompanied by his lawyer, Damon Jones — who is out on a $200,000 bond — appeared before the two judges handling the cases and plead not guilty to both. The undrafted 49-year-old former player joined the NBA for a modest career across 11 different teams, notably the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2008, where he played alongside LeBron. He later became an assistant coach, working again for the Cavaliers from 2016 to 2018 during LeBron’s second stint in Ohio. Jones served as James’s personal coach during the 2022–2023 season after the star joined the Lakers, without being employed by the team.
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