The NBA gambling scandal keeps getting messier, and this time, another familiar name has surfaced. According to investigative journalist Pablo Torre, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was present at one of the allegedly rigged poker games tied to the ongoing federal investigation — the same event that has already led to Chauncey Billups’ arrest.
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“According to multiple sources with direct knowledge of that April 2019 game in Vegas,” Torre said on his Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, “another ‘face card’ in attendance was current Clippers head coach Ty Lue.” Torre added that while Lue did not play at the same table as Billups, the two were close friends at the time. Lue even hired Billups to his Clippers coaching staff the following year.
After news of Billups’ arrest broke, Lue defended him publicly.
“He’s my brother,” Lue told reporters. “I know who he is as a person. I’ve been with him since I was 17 years old.”
Torre noted that Lue is a well-known poker enthusiast who spends much of his offseason in Las Vegas. He’s often seen playing at the Aria High Limit Bar, a hotspot for NBA-connected poker games.
Among his regular companions? Former NBA player Damon Jones, who was also implicated in the case after allegedly tipping gamblers that LeBron James wouldn’t play in a February 2023 game against Milwaukee.
Torre pointed out that Lue and Jones were even spotted together at the World Series of Poker this past summer, sitting “courtside” to cheer on a friend.
Lue has not been accused of wrongdoing, but his proximity to several key figures in the investigation is raising eyebrows. What began as a scandal involving players and coaches now appears to be creeping closer to the league’s top ranks.