The Official NBA thread

[pastarocket]

An NBA scandal! Your comments about this FBI investigation? Illegal gambling from sports betting. Some members of Mafia families are involved in this investigation too.
Police arrested a current coach and a former NBA player.

The NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is gonna have a tough couple of months of work ahead of him haha.

Some members of Mafia families are involved in this illegal sports betting too:

https://www.cnn.com/sport/live-news/...probe-10-23-25

FBI Director Kash Patel and other officials on Thursday detailed a massive mafia-linked gambling and sports rigging probe that led to the arrests of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups.

• The probe involved two major operations: One centered on illegal betting on various NBA games and another revolving around underground poker games, where “high-tech cheating technology” was used to steal millions from victims, US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said.

• Among the defendants in the dual operations are members of four major American crime families, as well as current and former NBA players and coaches, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York has released its full indictment naming the 31 defendants charged in the underground poker game scheme.

Law enforcement officials say the defendants — which include members of four American crime families — used cheating technology to steal millions from victims during the rigged games.

NBA figures: Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones are the three league figures named as facing charges so far, law enforcement officials tell CNN Sports.

Mafia families: Thirteen members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese New York crime families are among the defendants in the two cases, according to Christopher Raia, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office. Raia said an illegal gambling operation created a “financial pipeline” for La Cosa Nostra.

Teams whose games were bet on: While many specifics of the scheme are still unknown, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York said there were specific examples of “illegal betting on various NBA games” that hinged on the performances of players on teams including the Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors.

[mikemhg]

It's a big scandal in a time where the NBA is having a tough time attracting fans to watch games on TV.

Part of me thinks this is just the FBI going after Niggaball, as I have no doubt this kind of betting corruption is rampant in other sports as well. With how sport betting is being pushed down our throats (ESPN runs their own racket ffs) this kind of story was only a matter of time.

[whitev70r]

Seems pretty BIG deal here ... I mean you got players giving insider info on injuries, coach (who obviously has influence in outcome of game). You gotta be pretty stupid as a coach or player to be involved in something like this! What, your salary isn't paying enough?

[pastarocket]

https://youtu.be/p1EiA2uq52w?si=fXqYwnktogxVrM8X


Interesting opinions from Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley on NBA on ESPN about this NBA gambling scandal.

Is it gambling addiction, or stupidity from Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups, or both addiction and stupidity that lead them to commit these alleged crimes?

I agree with Shaq about the FBI. If they are arresting these fools, they must have quite a bit of evidence to back up their arrests. They have something on these individuals.

Rozier makes 26 million U.S. per season. Why would this fools risk jail time, his career, and put his family and the NBA’s reputation at risk??

Why would Rozier risk all that just to win a prop bet of small amounts of money compared to his annual salary?? Illogical.


A coach giving information to bettors about LeBron not playing in a game because of injury and giving other inside information on player injuries is NOT a gambling addiction in my opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mikemhg]

Well look at that Raptors player who was doing it, literal $20K bets when the guy is making a million a season as a benchwarmer, literally a retarded move.

The only thing I could think of is maybe extortion of some sort?

[bcrdukes]

Well, when the Mafia gets involved....

[pastarocket]

Wow, the Clippers did CP3 dirty.


https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/t...is-paul-dirty/

Chris Paul signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in July on a minimum contract. He knew he wouldn't be starting, and they made no guarantees when it came to playing time. At 40 years old, heading into his 21st NBA season, he just wanted to wear a Clippers uniform again and be with his family.

"If I'm really honest, I wanted to get back and play here by any means necessary," Paul said at his introductory press conference. "I didn't even care what the team looked like. I just wanted to be home, be here with the Clippers."

Paul wanted to retire a Clipper. On Nov. 22, before a game in Charlotte, he announced that this season would be his last. On Nov. 28, during the Clippers' first game at Intuit Dome after that road trip, they played a video to honor him. They shared it on social media, too, with the caption, "CP3 will end his Hall of Fame career at home," punctuated with a heart emoji. Four nights later, in the middle of the night during the middle of a road trip, they told Paul that they were done with him.


In team president Lawrence Frank's statement about the decision, provided to The Athletic and ESPN, he called Paul "a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career." Frank also said that "no one is blaming Chris for our underperformance" and the Clippers are "grateful for the impact Chris has made on our franchise." This was shortly after Paul had broken the news in an Instagram story at about 2:40 a.m. ET, telling the world that he'd just found out he'd been "sent home" while the team was in Atlanta.

No farewell tour for Chris Paul.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article...th-chris-paul/

Apparently, CP3 had a big rift with coach Tyronn Lue.

Paul and head coach Tyronn Lue had not been on speaking terms for weeks over a clash in leadership styles prior to the split, ESPN's Shams Charania reported.

NOTE: Chris Paul is the first NBA player to have 20 thousand points and 10 thousand assists.