A new report revealed the enormous debt problems former NBA guard Damon Jones faced prior to his recent arrest for allegedly feeding information to sports gamblers.
Jones has faced consistent financial difficulties since 2013 when he initially filed for bankruptcy, [according to Chloe Atkins and Corky Siemaszko of NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/nba/ex-nba-player-damon-jones-allegedly-used-championship-ring-collateral-rcna240974). At one point in 2015, he owed roughly $640,000 to creditors and $47,000 to the Bellagio Hotels and Casino.
The financial problems continued for Jones, and at one point, he listed his 2016 NBA championship ring as collateral. Jones was an assistant coach for the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers team that won the title.
Jones has been accused of passing inside information to bettors, and [appeared to be profiting off the winnings](https://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/damon-jones-betting-texts-lebron-james-revealed/723741) that were gleaned from the information he shared. He was arrested on Oct. 23 as part of an FBI investigation into illegal gambling rings.
The information surrounding Jones’ debts certainly offers some background as to why the former NBA guard might have gotten involved in an illegal gambling operation. He was able to get the information due to his connections to the league, and made money by passing the information off to associates before it became public knowledge.