TORONTO – The Milwaukee Bucks played their first road game of the season on Oct. 24 in Toronto; on a night the city was buzzing with baseball fever with Game 1 of the World Series taking place a short walk from Scotiabank Arena.

But Toronto was also the epicenter of a burgeoning sports gambling scandal that had another layer peeled off on Oct. 23 when the FBI announced the arrest of Miami player Terry Rozier and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones among over 30 others on charges of illegal gambling, extortion, money laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Former Raptors player Jontay Porter was arrested in April 2024 for his role in manipulating his stats for gambling purposes and he pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in July 2024. He has yet to be sentenced.

Portland head coach Chauncey Billups was also arrested Oct. 23 on different, but related, illegal gambling charges. Billups and Rozier have been placed on administrative leave by the NBA.

Coaches from around the league spoke about the arrests as games began later in the day, and Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said before the game that, “I just know it’s just really; it’s really sad. It’s actually, it’s heavy in my opinion because it’s a lot of people that I’ve known, I’ve coached against, coached. I mean, so it’s just really hard.”

“It’s so new, you know? Right now, I was talking to a very dear friend yesterday and he made the comment ‘the world is not very generous right now, or kind but we all have enough proof that things can be really good.’ And so, keep the hope for that. I just don’t love it right now.”

Rivers played in the NBA from 1984-96 and began his coaching career in 2000 and said that it has always been made clear that gambling on the game was a non-starter.

“Yeah, everyone can play cards, you can poker, you can do anything you want in that way − just not involving the sport that you’re in,” Rivers said. “I think it’s pretty clear. It’s always been clear. And the league has always made that extremely clear. So, when you start doing that you’re putting yourself in a tough situation. That we’ve always known.

“The difference is people couldn’t get to you and now they can. So, now, it’s leaving 20-year-olds, in a lot of cases, 21-year-olds, where they have to make a judgment. And sometimes they’re completely innocent and this can happen. It’s just different, man. It’s harder. You couldn’t bet on the game my entire career, and now you can.

“I can sit in the crowd, right, with Draft Kings. It’s just different. This may be the growing pains of it. I don’t think when this all started any of us didn’t think something was gonna happen. I mean, c’mon. Now we have to figure out how to keep it out of our game.”

He believes that players in this era have a more difficult social space to navigate, as they are more accessible to broader swaths of people through digital outlets.

“I keep saying, it’s just a lot harder for guys now,” Rivers said. “There’s just so many avenues with the phones and all this stuff. The outside world, in my day, couldn’t get to us. They literally couldn’t get to us. And now they can. With ease. Someone can DM you or text you or any other terms. How do they reach out with you on Twitter, is that Twitter you? I don’t know any of these things.

“I just know people are in our locker room that never were in our locker room. Pat Riley used to call them ‘the men of unclear purpose.’ I think they pretty much have a pretty good purpose. And so, it’s hard. It’s harder for them.

“We just have to keep educating as much as we can.”