New York (AFP) – Miami Heat captain Bam Adebayo said teammate Terry Rozier, arrested in a sweeping federal gambling probe, has the team’s “full support” as the NBA grappled with the burgeoning scandal on Friday.
“For us, as a team, we stand behind him, full support,” Adebayo told reporters in Memphis, Tennessee, as the Heat practiced for their game against the Grizzlies. “The biggest thing for us is keep praying for him, keep cheering for him behind the scenes and going out here to win games and change the narrative.”
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Heat guard Rozier and former NBA player and assistant Damon Jones were arrested for their alleged roles in a betting scheme that prosecutors say provided inside information on injuries and game absences to bettors between December 2022 and March 2024. Rozier, who has denied wrongdoing, was accused of advising co-conspirators that he would exit early with a supposed injury from a March 2023 game when he was with the Charlotte Hornets, allowing them to make bets on his performance accordingly.
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and an NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested in connection with rigged illegal poker games tied to Mafia crime families, with Jones also indicted in that investigation. At a press conference in New York on Thursday, FBI director Kash Patel described “a criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra.” Both Billups and Rozier were immediately suspended by the NBA, but the league’s fledgling season rolled on with 12 games scheduled for Friday.
“The league doesn’t wait, it doesn’t stop for you,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “I mean obviously we can’t comment on the situation,” said Spoelstra, who added that Rozier “is somebody who is very dear to all of us.” Billups and Rozier were both arraigned on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering on Thursday, Billups in Portland, Oregon, and Rozier in Orlando, Florida. Prosecutors said the 49-year-old Billups was one of more than 30 people indicted for alleged involvement in a nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games.
Billups’s celebrity helped lure players to high-stakes games that used “high-tech cheating technology” including shuffling machines that could read cards, hidden cameras, and barcoded decks. Rozier and Jones allegedly took part in a scheme that featured illegal betting on the performance of players on the Charlotte Hornets, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Los Angeles Lakers, and Toronto Raptors. Rozier, 31, was part of the illegal gambling probe that led to the lifetime ban of former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter last year.
The NBA said in January they found no evidence Rozier violated league rules but were cooperating with an ongoing federal investigation. “Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case,” Rozier’s lawyer James Trusty said. “Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.” Billups was not named in the sports betting indictment; however, the description of one unnamed co-conspirator involved in alleged illegal betting on a Trail Blazers game includes a playing and coaching career that tallies with his.
Attorney Chris Heywood told ESPN that Billups would never “risk his Hall of Fame legacy” on a card game. “Furthermore, Chauncey Billups has never and would never gamble on basketball games, provide insider information, or sacrifice the trust of his team and the league,” Heywood said, adding that Billups would fight the allegations against him.
Since sports gambling was legalized in most US states in 2018, American professional leagues have eagerly partnered with betting firms to garner a slice of a multi-billion-dollar industry. Therefore the NBA wasn’t the only league chilled by the news of the indictments, with the NFL sending a memo to all 32 teams reiterating that players are prohibited from betting on NFL games and from any illegal gambling. They are reminded that players also must not throw or fix any NFL game or manipulate any particular plays, and they are barred from sharing confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game, player or event, with a third party.
© 2024 AFP
