Browsing: arrested

Basketball

Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier arrested in gambling inquiries

Oct 23, 2025, 07:47 AM ET

Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday as part of a pair of investigations related to illegal gambling, FBI director Kash Patel announced.

The Billups and Rozier arrests were among more than 30 people arrested as part of a yearslong investigation covering 11 states, Patel said.

Rozier was arrested Thursday morning at a hotel in Orlando, Florida. The Heat lost their season opener to the Magic on Wednesday, when Rozier did not play due to a coach’s decision.

Billups’ arrest in Oregon was made as part of a separate but related illegal gambling case linked to an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia, according to an ABC News report. Billups is expected to make an initial court appearance later Thursday.

Also, former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones was arrested Thursday. He allegedly provided inside information about NBA games to co-defendants who used it to place sports bets, according to ABC News. Jones, 49, played for 10 NBA teams over an 11-year career from 1998 to 2009 and was a Cavaliers assistant from 2016 to 2018.

Sportsbooks in multiple states flagged suspicious betting interest on Rozier’s statistics ahead of a Charlotte Hornets-New Orleans Pelicans game on March 23, 2023. An unexpected surge of bets — including 30 wagers in 46 minutes from a professional bettor totaling $13,759 — came in on the under on Rozier’s points, rebounds and assists, causing sportsbooks to halt betting on the veteran guard. Rozier, then with the Hornets, played just 10 minutes before leaving the game, citing a foot injury.

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, previously told ESPN that his client met with NBA and FBI officials multiple times in 2023. The NBA said it looked into the matter at the time and did not find that any league rules were broken.

Other details of the Billups case were not immediately available. Billups has served as the Trail Blazers’ coach since 2021 and was on the sideline for their season-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is an NBA champion and was a Finals MVP as a player with the Detroit Pistons, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.

Rozier, 31, is in the final season of a four-year, $96.3 million contract he signed with the Hornets in August 2021. The March 23, 2023, game was Rozier’s last of the 2022-23 season with the Hornets, who traded him to the Heat in January 2024.

His case stems from the betting scandal involving former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter, who was banned from the NBA in the spring of 2024 for his role in a gambling scheme around player prop bets. Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and admitted in court to manipulating his performance in two games during the 2023-24 season. He is awaiting sentencing in December.

Four men, including Porter, have pleaded guilty in the case. Two other men have been named as conspirators and have been in plea negotiations, according to court filings.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday, said the league has been working with its sportsbook partners to combat attempts at manipulation.

“We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score,” Silver said. “We’re trying to put in place — learning as we go and working with the betting companies — some additional control to prevent some of that manipulation.”

Source link

Basketball

Former NBA star Paul Pierce arrested on suspicion of DUI

LOS ANGELES — Former NBA player Paul Pierce was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence on a Los Angeles highway after he was found asleep behind the wheel, state police said.

California Highway Patrol officers responded at about 10:40 p.m. to an unrelated car crash involving multiple vehicles on the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 101, closing four of the six lanes to investigate, the agency said in a news release.

When they reopened the lanes about an hour later, they saw a Range Rover SUV stopped in the road, south of the crash. Officers saw Pierce asleep at the wheel and “noticed signs of alcohol impairment,” so they conducted a DUI investigation, the press release said.

He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, which will be reviewed by the Los Angeles city attorney.

Pierce did not immediately respond to a message for comment, and additional contact information for him could not be immediately found.

Pierce played for the Boston Celtics for 15 seasons, and most recently for LA Clippers before retiring in 2017. He also played for the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards.

The 10-time All-Star and the MVP of the 2008 NBA Finals was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Pierce was recently a co-host of “Speak,” a sports talk show on Fox Sports that was canceled in July 2025.

Source link

Basketball

Celtics great Paul Pierce reportedly arrested on suspicion of DUI in Los Angeles

Boston Celtics great Paul Pierce was reportedly arrested under suspicion of DUI in Los Angeles on Tuesday, California Highway Patrol told multiple news stations in California and Boston.

Pierce, 47, was reportedly found sleeping behind the wheel of his car on a Los Angeles freeway after 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Officers were initially called out to the area to investigate a multi-vehicle crash in the northbound lanes of the 101 freeway. While investigating that crash, officers noticed a Range Rover SUV stopped in one of the lanes on the freeway south of the crash.

Advertisement

Pierce was reportedly found asleep at the wheel of the Range Rover. Officers claimed they noticed signs of impairment from Pierce and began a DUI investigation. He was arrested under suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Pierce’s case will be “presented to the Los Angeles City Attorney for review,” per WCVB.

While Pierce spent nearly his entire NBA career in Boston, he was born — and grew up — in California. Pierce was born in Oakland and played high school basketball at Inglewood. He was a standout player in high school, playing in the 1995 McDonald’s All-American Game.

Pierce played college basketball at Kansas before the Celtics selected him with the No. 10 overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft. Pierce put together a Hall of Fame career in Boston, leading the team to a championship during his 15-year career with the Celtics.

Toward the end of his career, Pierce also played for the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards before spending his final two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Advertisement

Following his playing days, Pierce served as an NBA analyst at ESPN from 2017-2021. He was let go by the network after live streaming a video of a party.

Pierce started working for FS1 in 2024. He found himself in the headlines in May, when he walked 20 miles to work after a bold prediction about the Celtics backfired.

Source link