Copyright yardbarker
The NBA has informed teams that it’s conducting a full review of its injury reporting procedures and gambling-related protocols in the wake of the FBI’s arrests of Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups, and Damon Jones, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. In a league memo shared by Charania, the NBA said it’s exploring new measures to “enhance internal and external monitoring” to detect suspicious betting activity while also tightening education and training standards for players, coaches, and staff. The move follows federal indictments alleging that Billups and Jones shared inside information related to player availability and team strategy for betting purposes. According to the indictment, Billups allegedly told an associate that the Trail Blazers were “going into tank mode” before a March 2023 game and that Damian Lillard would not play. In a similar case, Jones allegedly tipped off a bettor before a Lakers–Bucks game that a specific Laker — later identified as LeBron James — would sit out. James reportedly had no knowledge that information about his status was being leaked. The league memo also referenced Rozier’s situation, in which he was accused of pulling himself from a March 2023 game to help cash “under” prop bets on his stats. “While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier’s unders was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done to protect the integrity of the NBA,” the memo said. “Proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.” Commissioner Adam Silver said last week that the FBI’s involvement allows for a deeper probe, given its subpoena power and broader reach. He also reiterated growing concerns about the rise of individual prop bets, calling them one of the league’s “most pressing integrity challenges.”
