Adam Silver is sending dark telepathic signals to LeBron James. The commissioner is demanding cell phones and records from James’ longtime personal trainer, Mike Mancias, and Randy Mims, a business partner of James for 20 years and an executive administrator with the Lakers. Why not ask James for his phone, too? Is that next?

Don’t we all want to know if he supplied illegal dirt to Damon Jones?

The NBA’s gambling probe has reached the point where we must ask: Would the league have the guts to suspend the all-time leading scorer — or worse — if James informed Jones that he wasn’t playing and facilitated illegal betting that involved the mafia? Two seasons ago, after he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar atop the points list, James allegedly used a text to Jones that indicated he was sitting out.

“Bet enough so Djones can eat now!!!” James wrote.

For James to sink into the scum of wagering — “Bet enough” to help Jones financially — is lower than low in the realm of sports superstars. The word “bet” never should cross his lips, especially when he’s dealing with a former shooting coach involved with the mob.

“Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight,” Jones wrote online, knowing a Thursday night home game against the Bucks followed the record-breaker on a Tuesday night.

Jones has been a central part of Team LeBron and is known by Mancias and Mims. They are among figures with multiple NBA teams, in reporting published Saturday night by The Athletic, while the Department of Justice wants more evidence about Jones, Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and other potential crooks. An independent law firm asked the Lakers and other teams for phones and documents. We’ve yet to hear a word from James, expected to rejoin a 10-4 team after Jones pleaded not guilty to two charges: using inside information to make bets, and cheating in high-stakes poker games.

Do we really want to watch LeBron play ball again? Shouldn’t he address, as the news has lingered in headlines, his role in the Jones scheme? Did Jones make money twice in providing injury news about the Lakers to bettors? The league has dealt with serious gambling stories for much too long — dating to referee Tim Donaghy and Jontay Porter, who was banned in April 2024. Back when I was covering the Bulls in the Jordan Era, I probed why the game clock suddenly stopped in the final minute of a game at the United Center. I knew people who worked on the scorer’s table. I visited WGN TV and asked questions.

No, those people said. The Detroit Pistons had similar issues.

When former NBA commissioner David Stern referred to Donaghy as “a rogue, isolated criminal,” didn’t he realize his league was dishonest? Silver is entering territory last seen by Bud Selig — who appeared before Congress about steroids. Baseball was devastated by that era. Will gambling gut pro basketball — when James has been a dominant figure since 2003, helped along the way by Jones, Mancias and Mims?

“The NBA engaged an independent law firm to investigate the allegations in the indictment once it was made public,” an NBA spokesman told The Athletic. “As is standard in these kinds of investigations, a number of different individuals and organizations were asked to preserve documents and records.”

This is not “standard” behavior. The feds will rub out Jones, Billups and Rozier. We are left to wonder what’s next. The NFL once asked Tom Brady for his cellphone during the Deflategate scandal. When the phone was destroyed, commissioner Roger Goodell had a smoking gun that led to a four-game suspension without pay.

Ask LeBron for his phone. Or is Silver worried he will retire on the spot?

So be it.

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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.