Breaking news from ESPN Insider, Shams Charania, shook the NBA on the morning of Wednesday, October 23rd.
At approximately 6:00 AM EST, Miami Heat Point/Shooting Guard Terry Rozier III and Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups were both arrested by the FBI on charges of being involved in an illegal gambling operation run by the Mafia.
Rozier, aged 31, was arrested in Orlando after the Heat’s 125-121 loss to the in-state rival Orlando Magic the night before. Rozier was in uniform for last night’s game, yet did not play for an undefined reason. This isn’t the first time Rozier has been investigated due to gambling reasons.
In January of this year, the NBA announced that they would be investigating Rozier for suspicious betting patterns in regards to a game between his former team, the Charlotte Hornets, and the New Orleans Pelicans on March 23rd, 2023. A bettor in Biloxi, Mississippi placed 30 prop bets in 46 minutes, with all bets saying that Rozier would go below the projected stat total offered by the betting company. These bets added up to a grand total of $13,759 USD. Rozier would exit 10 minutes into the game, citing a sore foot. He would not return, and all 30 of the Rozier prop bets won. The bettor would end up winning over $26,000 dollars from Rozier’s early exit.
The initial investigation by the NBA and FBI ended up proving that this was a one-off incident, and Rozier did not end up committing any wrongdoing.
Billups’ arrest comes off the heels of the Blazers’ 118-114 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on October, 22nd. Billups is a former 5x NBA All-Star, a 2004 NBA Champion and the recipient of the 2004 NBA Finals MVP. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
The Trail Blazers have placed Billups on immediate leave since his arrest. They have announced that former Spurs role-player, Tiago Splitter, will fill the role of interim head coach moving forward for the foreseeable future.
