By: Mason Halfin

A major scandal has plagued the National Basketball League (NBA) as player Terry Rozier and former player and now Coach Chauncey Billups has been arrested. 

On the early morning of Thursday October 23^rd, 2025 the FBI under the direction of Kash Patel, arrested Rozier and Billups for multiple charges. Rozier, who currently plays for the Miami Heat was arrested under the accusation of rigging NBA games that he played in. While Rozier himself never bet on games, he provided inside information to groups of people betting Rozier’s “player props.” 

Portland Trail Blazers’ head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested under the illegal gambling charge like Rozier; however, Billups is also being accused of being tied to an “illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia” (Katersky, 2025). Billups disclosed private injury information from the gambling groups. The poker scheme included X-ray tables to scan playing cards, custom glasses with the ability to read cards, and rigged card-shuffling machines. 

The initial red flag leading to investigation happened on March 23^rd, 2023 when the Charlotte Hornets faced off against the New Orleans Pelicans, a game where Rozier only played a total of 10 minutes due to an “injury”. This same game, there was a large sum of money betting on the guards under statistical categories. 

The scandal has led fans like Wesleyan student Caden Hawkins to be very skeptical of  the integrity of the league. “I believe that there are more. There have been blatant missed calls, questionable calls, and players acting suspicious when a spread is going to be covered,” Hawkins stated. “This issue has been going on longer with players, coaches, refs, and even GMs. I don’t think this is anything new and will continue to come out about situations like this.”

ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show had on lead NBA analyst Shams Charmia who stated earlier in the year that the guard had “been cleared” and “there’s nothing really active as of right now with him”. This leads many fans to believe that the FBI was able to gather evidence and obtain search warrants that the NBA didn’t have access too. 

Sports gambling is now officially legal in all 50 states in the US. According to an article from ESPN, the American betting services grossed over 13 billion dollars in 2024, up from the 2023 number of 11 billion dollars. This number is obviously expected to grow in 2025 as well. 

Given these statistics, it’s no surprise that a scandal like this would emerge in professional sports. Issues of integrity have plagued athletics for over a century, beginning with the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal when players were accused of throwing the World Series. Today, fans across all sports are left on edge, anticipating when the next breach of trust might shake their favorite teams or athletes.

Photo from: DNYUZ