Former Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones is one of three individuals being charged in both the sports betting and gambling probe that resulted in 31 cumulative arrests, that included Trail Blazers coach and Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and current Heat guard Terry Rozier.
Jones, 49, played in NBA for 10 teams spanning 11 seasons from 1998-2009, spending no more than three years with any team after going undrafted out of Houston.
The Texas native entered the league with the Nets in in the 1998 seasons, playing 11 games in New Jersey before finishing up the year with the Celtics.
Damon Jones shooting during the 2007 playoffs. Getty Images
Jones then spent either a full season or less than an entire campaign with the Warriors, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Pistons, Kings and Bucks and Heat from 1999-2005.
He finally found home with the Cavaliers in 2005, appearing in 209 games for the franchise spanning three seasons.
Jones averaged 22 minutes and 6.6 points across his three seasons playing alongside LeBron James, which included a loss to the Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals.
He finished his career by appearing in 18 games for the 2008-09 Bucks.
Jones played in 657 career games and averaged 6.6 points, 2.7 assists and 1.6 total rebounds.
Jones during the 2006 playoffs. AP
He found his way back to the Cavaliers in 2014, working as a shooting coach for the team.
The Cavaliers promoted him to assistant coach in 2016.
Jones became involved in a famous incident in 2018 when ex-Cavaliers star J.R. Smith earned a one-game suspension for throwing soup at him.
Smith said Jones egged him on, eliciting the outburst.
“I’m not gonna lie. It took me a second too because I thought about it. It wasn’t a rageful throw,” Smith said, per CBS. “It was like, ‘Okay, you’re playing with me. I know you’re playing with me. I’m gonna show you.’ I literally thought about it, and I threw it on him. He’s over there screaming because the s–t is hot. I’m like, ‘See, you wanna stop playing with me now? You gonna stop playing?’”
Jones guarding Stephon Marbury in 2004. New York Post
The Cavaliers fired Jones in October 2018 amid the team’s 0-6 start that also resulted in head coach Tyronn Lue’s ouster.
Jones popped up in the news again Thursday following his arrest in the FBI’s investigation.
He’s alleged to have participated in the purported sports betting scheme that involved prop bets manipulation, along with the supposed rigging of poker games.