Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was among those arrested Thursday as part of an FBI probe into illegal gambling activity.
Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones were among over 30 individuals arrested by the FBI as part of two separate illegal gambling-related cases, the FBI confirmed.
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The NBA has placed Billups and Rozier on “immediate leave” from their teams, and the Trail Blazers announced that Tiago Splitter will assume interim head coaching duties.
Billups has been charged in an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia. He was arraigned in his first court appearance on Thursday and then released on bail. He’s set to appear at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 24.
Billups denied the charges in a statement released by his attorney to ESPN.
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The individuals allegedly involved in running the illegal poker games — some of which include members of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families — are accused of rigging contests in their favor. Individuals reportedly used secret cameras, contacts that could read marked cards and X-ray tables, among other methods, to cheat other players out of millions.
Billups’ presence at those games was meant to legitimize them and make “victims believe that they were sitting at a fair table,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thursday. Billups was reportedly aware of the scam, per US Attorney Joe Nocella.
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Billups, 49, spent 17 seasons in the NBA as a player. Billups, the No. 3 overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, spent eight of those seasons with the Detroit Pistons, where he helped lead the team to a championship in 2004. Billups was a five-time All-Star, made the All-NBA team three times and was a member of the NBA All-Defensive team twice. Billups was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Following the end of his playing career, Billups went into coaching. He was hired by the Trail Blazers ahead of the 2021-22 NBA season and has compiled a 177-212 record in five seasons with the team.
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One of those defeats came Wednesday night, as Billups led the Trail Blazers to a 118-114 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the team’s 2025-26 season opener.
Jones’ arrest was also related to the illegal poker game. Jones, an 11-year NBA veteran, played for 10 teams during his career. After retiring in 2012, Jones spent time as an assistant coach with the Cavaliers.
While Billups was not named or mentioned as part of the Rozier indictment, Billups fits the description of Co-Conspirator 8 in the indictment. Co-Conspirator 8 allegedly informed another defendant that the Trail Blazers would try and tank (intentionally lose) a late-season game against the Chicago Bulls in 2023.