Former Portland Trail Blazers head coach and NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups was arrested on Thursday for his alleged involvement in a scandal that lured victims to play rigged games of poker. On Friday, former ESPN analyst turned independent reporter, Pablo Torre, claimed that former NBA star Kevin Garnett may have been involved as well.
Torre reports that numerous pro athletes had played at these private poker events. However, whether they were allegedly in on the scandal or victims themselves is unknown. Either way, Torre claims that his sources told him that Garnett was one of the pro athletes who had played in one of the rigged games. The alleged incident took place back in 2019.
“UPDATE: A number of former pro athletes played at private poker games organized by those indicted by the DOJ in ‘Operation Royal Flush.' One of them — according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of a game that took place in 2019 — was Kevin Garnett.”
This reporting does not claim that the 2008 NBA champion was helping Billups with the alleged rigging. It just states that Garnett may have been in attendance at one of the poker games. Additionally, Pablo Torre does say that “a number of former pro athletes played at private poker games.” So, that suggests other names could be released in the coming days who are in the same boat as Kevin Garnett.
It's said that the FBI has arrested over 30 individuals, with nearly half of them allegedly being connected to the Italian mafia. Garnett was not one of the individuals who were arrested on Thursday. ESPN's Shams Charania claimed that the NBA poker scandal investigation could take anywhere between six to 12 months. So, we should expect more information to come to light in 2026.
