Recently, the NBA world received a major jolt when Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones were all arrested by the FBI in relation to connected but separate illegal gambling charges. The news continued to call into question the NBA's close association with various sportsbooks as well as how many more scandals could be on the horizon.
Recently, Shams Charania of ESPN broke down the next steps the league is taking to address the issue.
“The NBA informed its 30 teams that the league has begun process of reviewing policies regarding injury reporting, training and education of all personnel, and enhancing internal and external monitoring programs to identify betting activity of concern,” reported Charania on E, formerly Twitter.
“While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier's “unders” in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done from a legal/regulatory perspective to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny,” read the memo in part.
Indeed, the game in which Rozier exited early in March 2023 was detected almost immediately due to the influx of “under” bets prior to that game, by which point Rozier had already spread information that he would be exiting early.
A growing problem for the NBA
Many expected that as professional sports leagues continue to get into bed with gambling companies, scandals like the one the NBA is currently dealing with could eventually start to occur, but few could have predicted that things would happen this quickly, and with Hall of Famers like Chauncey Billups involved at that.
The NBA public relations team certainly will be earning its paycheck this month as it tries to navigate growing calls from the sports world to ensure integrity in its game, even if that means cutting ties with the sportsbooks and their millions of dollars altogether.
