Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: John Leyba-Imagn Images
The talk of the NBA has not been the start of the regular season. Instead Adam Silver’s league is in the news for all the wrong reasons and it reads like a soap opera. There’s the feds, mafia, arrests, money, and celebrities. Somehow the Minnesota Timberwolves are also catching strays.
After coaching, and losing, against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, Chauncey Billups was arrested. He and Terry Rozier are the central figures in multiple ongoing cases involving illegal poker games and sports betting.
What’s now also come to light is the former Timberwolves guard may have gotten his teammate Kevin Garnett in trouble as well.
Gambling scandal adds Kevin Garnett’s name to circus
Journalist Pablo Torre has been all over the NBA gambling scandal dating back to this summer. He talked about former Minnesota Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley’s involvement then. On Friday he dropped a bombshell of a name connected to this federal investigation. Enter Kevin Garnett.
🚨 UPDATE: A number of former pro athletes played at private poker games organized by those indicted by the DOJ in “Operation Royal Flush.”
One of them — according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of a game that took place in 2019 — was Kevin Garnett. @pablofindsout https://t.co/9UEijIez8R
— Pablo Torre 👀 (@PabloTorre) October 24, 2025
When looking at the facts presently available, there are two separate cases being investigated, though there is a level of crossover. Rozier, Billups, and Damon Jones are all tied to provider insider information. Billups and Jones though, also participated in the rigged card games using their status to drive people to the table.
Billups and Jones — who were known as “face cards” in the scheme — allegedly used their celebrity to lure victims into playing high-stakes poker games that were actually rigged, according to the indictment. “Cheating teams” set up an elaborate scheme involving technology that would alert the co-conspirator players to the cards on the table, allowing them to get an edge on the victims. The organizers allegedly used X-ray tables, glasses that enabled the showing of marked cards and technology that allowed a remote member of the team to let others know the cards in play, according to the indictment.
Doug Greenberg – ESPN
Based on Torre’s report, that’s where Garnett would come in as well. He would represent one of these “face cards” designed at getting high rollers to the table. Similarly to Billups and Jones, it seems logical to believe he was compensated for doing so, and aware of the scheme taking place.
It remains to be seen what extent the feds go as far as making arrests. Billups has already been arrested and appeared in court. With that having played out, it’s beyond likely that there will be more prominent names to see the same fate in the coming days.
For years Timberwolves fans have wanted to see Garnett back at Target Center and his jersey hanging in the rafters. Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore seem committed to making that happen, but they may need to keep him out of jail first.
Mentioned in this article: Chauncey Billups Kevin Garnett More About: Minnesota Timberwolves
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