In the wake of its illegal gambling arrests, the NBA is requesting documents, cell phones and more from employees on multiple teams, according to The Athletic. The list of employees reportedly includes some of LeBron James’ closest acquaintances on the Los Angeles Lakers.
The requests are part of an illegal gambling investigation, and come after a grilling by Congress over the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Damon Jones. The investigation is reportedly being run by the outside law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
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From The Athletic:
“The NBA engaged an independent law firm to investigate the allegations in the indictment once it was made public,†an NBA spokesman told The Athletic in a statement. “As is standard in these kinds of investigations, a number of different individuals and organizations were asked to preserve documents and records. Everyone has been fully cooperative.â€
The Lakers appear to be seeing scrutiny due to the arrest of Jones, whom prosecutors claim was part of both a rigged poker scheme and the use of inside information for gambling purposes. It’s alleged that in one case, Jones informed bettors that James would miss a 2023 games against the Milwaukee Bucks due to an injury, despite not being on the injury report.
Jones played with James for three years on the Cavaliers, helped coached him during James’ second stint in Cleveland and continued their relationship as an unofficial assistant coach for the Lakers during the 2022-23 season. He has pled not guilty to charges.
The NBA has reportedly requested documents and cell phones from at least 10 Lakers employees. Two of them are members of James’ inner circle on the team: assistant trainer Mike Mancias and executive administrator Randy Mims, who have complied with the requests.
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Mancias has been James’ personal trainer for about 20 years, per The Athletic, while Mims has known James since he was 5 years old. To be clear, none of James, Mancias and Mims have been charged with a crime or mentioned by name in the government’s proceedings so far.
However, there is a section in the indictment in which Jones allegedly claimed that the trainer for a pair of Lakers players, identified as “Player 3” (aka James) and “Player 4,” informed him that one of those players, “Player 4,” was injured.
The NBA probably has some questions about that.
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