HOUSTON – Former NBA player and coach Damon Jones, who grew up in the Houston area, is among the dozens of people charged in connection with a federal investigation.
Jones, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier are among more than 30 people charged in connection with schemes involving illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, authorities said on Thursday.
Jones is accused in both indictments announced Thursday — of participating in rigged poker games as well as an illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information.
Authorities say Jones was coached — in real time — about how to play his hands during the poker games, and that at one point, he snapped back, saying: “Y’all know I know what I’m doing!! Let me hibachi like Gilbert Arenas.”
Dig deeper:
Who is Damon Jones?
Jones, 49, was an unofficial assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2022-23 when he allegedly was involved with the betting scheme, according to the indictment. He’s been coaching since at least 2014 after finishing an 11-year NBA playing career.
He is from Galveston and played for Houston in college before suiting up with NBA teams in New Jersey, Boston, Golden State, Dallas, Vancouver, Detroit, Sacramento, Milwaukee, Miami and Cleveland.
Jones averaged 11.6 points in the 2004-05 season with Miami, his only season scoring in double figures.
Jones joined Cleveland’s coaching staff in 2014 as a shooting consultant. He was on Tyronn Lue’s Cleveland staff for the postseason in 2016 and was named a full-time assistant for the Cavaliers later that year. He also worked as a TV analyst for ESPN in 2018.
The Source: The information in this article comes from the Associated Press.