Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat #2 Terry Rozier.
Lachlan Cunningham | Getty Images
The National Basketball Association told its 30 member teams on Monday that it is launching a broad review of gambling-related issues to “protect the integrity of the NBA and its affiliated leagues” following a bombshell federal indictment alleging confidential information about players was leaked to gamblers.
The review specifically focuses on suggested bets offered by legitimate online sports bookmakers that allow gamblers to bet on the statistical performance of individual players, according to a memo from the NBA to teams obtained by CNBC.
In addition to prop bets, the league will also review how player injuries are publicly reported and consider ways to improve the use of artificial intelligence and other tools to identify betting patterns that suggest gamblers have access to inside information about players or teams, according to the memo.
The memo, from NBA general counsel Rick Buchanan and league executive vice president of governance and policy Dan Spillane, was addressed to the NBA Board of Governors, team presidents, general managers and team advisors.
Miami Heat player Terry Rozier was among the six people named in the indictment unsealed last week in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York. Rozier and others are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
“Defendants and certain co-conspirators had access to personal information known to NBA players and NBA coaches that was shared with others who misused that information to place lucrative bets with companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings, the league’s official sports betting partners,” the indictment states.
Rozier is accused of informing a longtime friend in March 2023, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets, that he planned to leave the team early “due to an alleged injury.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn announced Thursday that the friend and two other men charged in the same indictment are suspected of using that information to place prop bets totaling more than $200,000 that Rozier would underperform in certain areas of his play, such as points and assists.
Rozier left the game after just nine minutes and “many of his bets paid off, yielding tens of thousands of dollars in profits,” prosecutors said.
Rozier’s lawyer Jim Trusty denied any wrongdoing, saying, “Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight and is looking forward to winning this fight.”
“While the unusual bet on Terry Rozier’s ‘Under’ on a March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bet was placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done to protect the integrity of the NBA and its affiliated leagues from a legal and regulatory standpoint,” the NBA said in a memo Monday.
“In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance raise integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny,” the memo said.
“We have also begun the process of reviewing the league’s policies regarding injury reporting, training and education for all NBA personnel, and safety measures for NBA players,” the memo said.
“With sports betting such an important part of today’s sports landscape, every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches, and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the serious risks that gambling can pose to their careers and livelihoods, that injury disclosure rules are appropriate, and that players are protected from harassment by bettors,” the memo said.
“We are also exploring ways to enhance our existing internal and external integrity monitoring programs to better utilize AI and other tools to integrate all available data from gambling operators, social media, and other sources to identify gambling activity of concern,” the memo states.
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who is in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player, appears to be an anonymous “Co-conspirator 8” mentioned in the same indictment charging Rozier.
Although Billups has not been criminally charged in this case, the indictment details Co-conspirator 8’s NBA playing and coaching background, which matches Billups’ background.
According to the indictment, in March 2023, Co-conspirator 8 told the defendants named in the indictment that he intended to lose a game to the Chicago Bulls in order to increase the Trail Blazers’ chances of getting a better pick in the NBA draft.
The indictment alleges that those who received the information placed approximately $100,000 in total bets at a legal online bookmaker that the Trail Blazers lost the game.
Billups faces a separate federal indictment in Brooklyn, where he is accused of participating in a conspiracy with alleged Mafia members to defraud unsuspecting players of millions of dollars in underground poker games using high-tech cheating devices.
Billups’ attorney, Chris Haywood, told NBC News last week: “Chauncey Billups has never, and never will, gambled on a basketball game, provided inside information, or sacrificed the credibility of a team or a league. To do so would tarnish the game to which he has devoted his entire life.”
Haywood also denied any wrongdoing by Billups in the poker-related indictment, saying, “Anyone who knows Mr. Chauncey Billups knows that he is a man of integrity. A man of integrity does not cheat or defraud others.”
Billups and Rozier were placed on administrative leave by the NBA after their arrests on Thursday.
In October 2024, following allegations of suspicious bets on the performance of Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter, the NBA directed gambling partners and other operators to remove prop bets on the lowest-paid players, especially those playing on two-way or 10-day contracts, as Porter had claimed.
The league said at the time that these players could be more vulnerable to manipulation. Mr. Porter pleaded guilty in July 2024 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in Brooklyn federal court.
Matt King, CEO of Fanatics Betting and Gaming, told CNBC on Monday that the sportsbook company maintains ongoing communication with sports leagues on integrity and regulatory issues.
“When the league asked us not to provide props to players on two-party contracts, we did that right away,” King said.
“It’s a common sense regulation, a common sense evolution, a common sense decision.”
