The Portland Trail Blazers just went through one of the most shocking off-court events in the history of their franchise as Head Coach Chauncey Billups was arrested and indicted for taking part in an illegal gambling ring. The arrest was part of a broader sweep involving 30 individuals, two of which–Terry Rozier and Damon Jones–also had connections to the NBA.
Information came in furiously all morning and continued to trickle in throughout the afternoon. Several questions regarding the incident have percolated into the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag, with dozens more in the comments sections of the various posts we’ve had on site covering the matter.
Because the volume and pace of reporting can lead to confusion, we’re going to summarize everything we know, or can guess, in a single post, answering some of the more common questions we’ve received along the way.
What Was Chauncey Billups Actually Indicted For?
Billups was charged with participating in an organized crime ring specifically designed to bilk gamblers out of their money under the guise of ongoing poker games. Wire fraud and other charges have, and will, stem from this scenario but illegal gambling is at the heart of it.
While still an NBA player, Billups served as a “face” for the ring, enticing gamblers to play poker alongside celebrities, of which he was one. He used his fame to attract people to the table.
The games were allegedly rigged, with multiple technical devices–including crooked dealing shoes, bugged chips, x-ray tables, and off-site coordinators–monitoring cards and communicating deals to table participants. Knowing the hands, it was fairly easy for the ring’s players to fleece unwitting participants.
Adding a layer of complication, several crime families from the New York area–where many of the games were set up–had fingers in the pie. That wrinkle has the potential to add serious racketeering charges to the mix.
How Do the Rozier/Jones Betting Charges Factor In?
Officially, they don’t. Billups has not been named overtly in the second investigation announced today, in which Rozier, Jones, and others conspired to fix “prop” bets, wagers on mini-factors surrounding NBA games, like how many rebounds a certain player will get or who will score the first points of a given contest. (For example, Rozier allegedly told a group of gamblers that he would fake an injury in the first quarter of a game, removing him from the contest and making bets on his numbers simple.)
That said, the Trail Blazers were named as one of the teams affected by that betting scandal. Further, an unnamed “Co-Conspirator 8” was cited in the indictments, described as a former player who was a coach in Oregon since 2021. The pool of likely candidates for that co-conspirator narrows quickly to Billups.
The allegation says that “Co-Conspirator 8” knew that certain Trail Blazers players would not be suiting up for a March, 2023 game. The conspirator made that privileged, not-yet-public information available to acquaintances–including some with connections to organized crime–who then placed significant wagers on the game. Even though the Co-Conspirator was not charged for this act, he was certainly part of the illegal betting system.
Who Are the Victims Here?
The people losing out from these activities are not the most sympathetic bunch ever: professional (or at least reasonably wealthy) gamblers, bookies and gambling corporations, and common bettors who didn’t have access to the same privileged information.
The NBA itself could easily suffer from this, however. Gambling scandals call into question the integrity of the league and sport. Having three public figures publicly indicted–two with active careers, one a head coach–is not a good look for the association.
Is This More Serious Than Just Poker?
It doesn’t have to be, but it could be, and that’s a problem.
Organized crime and sports have circled around each other for decades. Gambling provides music for the dual dance. Unscrupulous gamblers flourish when they can find an edge over the booking houses or general public. When they see an opportunity, they have no trouble manufacturing one. That’s where sports professionals come in.
The classic M.O. is for organized crime figures to find, and exploit, vulnerability in a player or manager. Often they allow pro athletes to run up gambling debt. Sometimes they set up blackmail-worthy activities. Either way, once the crime guys have something over the athlete in question, they leverage the weakness to get inside information. Sometimes they even pressure the player or coach to affect the game in their favor.
This has a potential impact on the sport. That’s why association with organized crime figures is frowned upon for athletes, coaches, and referees, at least publicly.
In Billups’ case the poker chicanery is bad, but the fact that organized crime figures sponsored the games is worse. Just participating in the scheme gives criminals something over him. If his involvement were reported to authorities, you get exactly what happened today. To prevent that–to keep his job and reputation–a coach might be willing to respond to illicit requests from the criminals holding that information.
The “Co-Conspirator 8” scenario might be worse. That’s true even though the indictment only mentions the offender sharing information one time and even though anyone watching the team in March of 2023 already knew the Blazers were tanking.
The reason is simple: a Head Coach doesn’t just report on the team’s status, he helps determine it. He makes decisions over who plays and how much.
Let’s consider this simple scenario.
A player has a minor injury and he’s not expected to play in the team’s next game. He might be shutting it down for the season, even, getting some rest. The coach is among the first to hear this news. Before it breaks to the public–which would very much affect the betting lines for the game ahead–he calls up some “friends” and tells them. These friends then turn around and bet thousands on the appropriate lines for the game, locking in a sure win that only they know about.
A couple hours before the game, the player comes up and says, “Coach, you know what? I had a great workout today. I actually feel well enough to play. I want to give it a try.” But the coach has already told those “friends” that the player isn’t playing. Even if he gets them this new information, it doesn’t matter. Their bets are already placed.
Under these circumstances, the coach has severe incentive to convince the player not to play after all. If he can’t do that, he has just as much incentive to not play the player much and/or to make sure the game turns out exactly as it would have if the player hadn’t suited up. That’s a huge conflict of interest. It’s magnified a hundredfold if those “friends” are organized crime members who are going to be upset that they just lost thousands of dollars because of bad information from said coach.
This isn’t just a matter of bilking inveterate gamblers out of their bankrolls anymore. It’s a person perverting the game from a position of authority, using that position to do the opposite of what he’s contracted and ethically bound to do. That’s incredibly serious. So far when it’s happened, professional sports leagues have found it unforgivable.
What Will Happen to Billups? Will He Be Back?
Billups will go through the legal process. Several things could happen. He could push the trial to its conclusion and be found guilty or not guilty. He could plea bargain to modified charges and accept less threatening penalties, perhaps preventing jail time. He might even give evidence in the “Conspirator 8” convictions, assisting prosecution of others in return for amnesty or lighter penalties himself. Those legal matters will no doubt be the highest initial priority. He has more at stake there than anywhere.
Unless Billups is found absolutely, unmistakably not guilty, it’s unlikely he’ll be welcomed back into the NBA. The league suspended him this morning. The league—not the Blazers—would have to undo that suspension in order for him to serve in any official capacity. If any of these allegations are true, it’s not likely they’ll consider reinstating him worth the bother and reputation hit.
In short, the Trail Blazers couldn’t keep Billups in his coaching seat or invite him back if they wanted to. It’s extremely unlikely that they’ll want to anyway. Odds are he’ll never return as Portland’s, or anyone’s, coach.
Why Aren’t the Blazers Making a Statement? Why Haven’t They Just Fired Him?
Like the rest of us, the Blazers were forced to hit the ground running–and coping–with this situation. One can only imagine the professional web involved, let alone the personal shock and dismay for everyone who knew and worked with Billups. Feelings could range from painful betrayal to a strong sense of “innocent until proven guilty” and everything in between. You can’t sort those out in mere days, let alone minutes. And that’s just privately. Public speech in this fluctuating and emotional time would be incredibly difficult.
The team did issue a statement. Its fundamental core was, “We’re aware of these allegations. We’ll cooperate with investigations. Don’t ask us anything else about this. The end.”
Doing so, they’re following the sound practice of not offering any information when legal or public relations matters arise. Nothing they say will fix this. The only thing they can do is open themselves up to more scrutiny, criticism, and most importantly, liability. Under those circumstances, the smartest thing to do is hire a lawyer and hush up, letting them talk instead.
There might be another reason for silence, though. NBA coaching contracts are guaranteed, but as far as I know, everyone with a guaranteed contract also has a “moral turpitude” clause that allows termination of the deal if the contracted party does something flagrantly immoral or illegal. I’m not an expert. I’m not sure what bar has to be crossed for that clause to take effect. If it requires an actual conviction on legal charges–or a plea to same–the Blazers may want to wait to “officially” terminate Billups until those events have come about. If they fire him now, they would probably owe him his entire contract, as allegations probably don’t count as moral turpitude. Waiting, they may save millions not having to pay him. That’s part of the reason a suspension and silence might make sense for now more than a strong stance.
Is It Possible These Allegations are Politically Motivated?
There’s an old truism that says that a police officer can always find a reason to pull you over. Signaled too soon. Signaled too late. Rolled over the stop line by an inch. Registration sticker isn’t square. Nobody drives perfectly. Nobody conducts life perfectly either.
It’s probably true that the FBI could find reasons to investigate any major sports league and/or the prominent (read: rich and powerful) people who circle in its orbit. Whether investigating the NBA as opposed to other organizations is “political” is up to the beholder. We don’t know exactly how these infractions got reported to the government. We don’t know why they chose to pursue them. All we know is that they exist.
It’s not likely that the pursuit of Chauncey Billups in particular is politically motivated. Some have tried to draw connections between the federal government’s tension with the City of Portland and this case. That seems far-fetched. The investigation has reportedly been ongoing for years, through a couple of federal administrations. Also, frankly, there are bigger and better targets for persecution than Billups.
Political grist may be milled out of these events after the fact, but that’s quite different than saying that the investigation and prosecution were politically-motivated initially, or at heart.
The NBA has every reason to want this to be as minor as possible. If anything, they’re politically and socially motivated to downplay Chauncey’s infractions and sweep them under the rug. If any of these things turn out to be true, they’re going to throw the book at him as hard as the government will. At this point, nobody has any choice.
What Do We Know About Tiago Splitter, New Interim Coach?
He coached the Brazilian National Team in 2022. He coached Paris in the Euroleague this year and they won the French Cup. That’s ok, I suppose. We’re about to find out how he does. But like Billups was initially in Portland, Splitter is being thrown into a pretty tough situation.
How Will This Affect the Blazers This Year?
Well, it ain’t good.
Coaches hired mid-season in the NBA invariably lament the lack of a true training camp to prepare their players and system. The Blazers just had a full training camp. Now all that has plunged off a cliff, after just one game at that.
Evolution and success aren’t just a matter of installing a new style of play. The coach has to get the players to buy into that style. He has to enforce it. He has to stoke belief in it, evoking hard, energetic play through the grind of an 82-game season, complete with ups and downs.
Billups had an advantage in doing all these things. His institutional provenance, combined with experience with these players, made him all but unassailable.
Consider: No NBA coach had ever amassed a worse record with a single team and received a contract extension than Chauncey Billups had when Portland inked him to a new deal last spring. If they were ever going to fire him for any reason, they would have done it then. When they didn’t, it coated him with pure Teflon against every criticism, objection, or protest any of his players could make. If Billups started five G League players and Portland lost 15 in a row to start the season, there’s still no reason to believe management would let him go.
That gave Billups critical currency in negotiating and perpetuating this season’s new approach with his players. If he told Jerami Grant he was coming off the bench, Jerami Grant was coming off the bench. If he told Shaedon Sharpe to play defense or he was sitting, Sharpe played defense. If the team went on a huge losing streak but Billups was still sticking to the system, the players were still sticking with the system despite any evidence to the contrary. This wasn’t an evidence-based team. This was Chauncey’s team.
Tiago Splitter has none of that. First of all, it’s not his system. We don’t know how much he believes in it or doesn’t. Second, even if he’s 100% invested, he doesn’t have the track record to perpetuate it. If the Blazers lose to the Warriors and Clippers this weekend–which they may have done with Billups at the helm too–but Grant plays two more “FU, I’m a starter” games, posting 25 a night, can Splitter look him in the eye and say, “We’re still not going to start you?” If he tries to enforce it, can he make it stick, or does Grant have more institutional weight and currency than the interim coach who just joined the team a couple months ago and has never coached in this league?
Let’s say the Blazers start the season 3-10, which again, they may have done under Billups. Can Splitter keep them invested in playing this style of ball or will they need to make changes? And if they need to make changes, are they just starting over with no training camp, no history, and no evidence that they can actually win no matter what they do?
Consider also the players’ relationships with the franchise and each other. Yesterday they knew what they were doing. For better or worse, it was settled. Now they know nothing. Who’s the coach? How are they playing now? When is practice today and who is leading it? Is it harder, easier, longer or shorter than normal? What’s the starting lineup? What are the substitution patterns? Who do I talk to if I have an issue? Hey, I just spent three years developing a rapport and tacit agreements with Chauncey. Are you going to honor those, Coach Splitter, or am I back to Square One?
From the smallest detail to the biggest picture, this franchise has just been thrown into chaos. They might recover. In the meantime, it’s not a matter of whether there will be casualties, but who and how many.
This is the one time, more than any other, that Portland fans should be glad they have Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday on the team. I’m not saying they can hold it together. For all we know, they may become a focus of power struggles within the team. But if anybody can help, they can. Those signings look prescient now.
That doesn’t change the fact that things just went very, very shockingly bad for the Blazers–historically so–at the exact moment they were trying to lift off into something bigger and better. The plane just got off the runway and the passengers are now watching the pilot drift downward in a parachute. However they cope with that, expectations have to be reset. At this point landing this thing in any kind of coherent shape is enough.
Make no mistake, Billups just hurt this franchise badly. Whatever his thought process and motivation—whatever he might have gained, brought, or been trying to achieve and whatever the legal outcome short of full absolution—he just established himself as the worst coach in Trail Blazers history by a long shot. He might be the worst coach the NBA has ever seen. It’s a distinction this organization couldn’t afford in the best of times. It’s sad to see them have to cope with it now.
How Will This Affect the Blazers Long Term?
Cynically speaking, there was going to be an ownership change in spring anyway. Blazers fans were already looking towards that as a potential breath of fresh air. At this point, it better be a hurricane. The end of the Allen Family era has not lived up to its beginning. I’m not saying that’s the fault of the owners or anyone. It is what it is.
In part because of that sea change, this doesn’t have to affect the team adversely long-term. The most important thing this year just shifted from wins and losses to not fracturing relationships–or breeding defeatism–within the young core of players the Blazers are banking on. If this gets defined as a snakebit or losing franchise within that locker room–among players who have not known anything but–keeping morale up and interpersonal relationships strong will be difficult.
Implosion and hopelessness are the two main enemies. If the locker room can bond, play for each other, and persevere at least a little bit, the future could still look bright. If not, though, there’s no safety net underneath this franchise right now and nowhere to go but the wood chipper.
As always, the name of the game is to keep hoping, keep watching, keep going hard, and I guess…Go Blazers? At a certain point, that’s all you’ve got left. The difference is, that’s now true of the players and coaching staff as much as the fans.
That’s what happens when you have to endure one of the worst days in franchise history. I suspect that the Blazers have seen enough of them.