Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups watches from the sideline during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
Jenny Kane / AP
Following Wednesday night’s opening night loss, the Portland Trail Blazers’ season has already been turned upside down.
On Thursday morning, just hours after the game, the FBI arrested head coach Chauncey Billups on charges that he participated in an illegal gambling ring.
Related: Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups among more than 30 arrested in federal gambling probe
In addition, a separate indictment filed in New York said someone matching Chauncey’s description — an NBA player from 1997 to 2014 — provided inside information to people betting on Trail Blazers games.
The NBA issued a statement Thursday morning saying it had placed Billups on immediate leave.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today,” the statement said. “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
The Trail Blazers have already named assistant coach Tiago Splitter as an interim replacement for Billups, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.
The team has not issued a statement since the arrest.
Billups was one of more than 30 people named in the federal indictment that was filed on Oct. 9. It describes a sophisticated rigged poker scheme involving members of multiple New York crime families.
Billups is charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering.
The scheme, according to the indictment, relied on “face cards,” famous former athletes that lent credibility to the poker games. Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones were face cards and allegedly received a portion of the money earned from the fraudulent poker games.
The indictment describes how the operators of the scheme used a rigged card shuffler to fix the poker games and defraud players, who assumed they were playing a legitimate game.
The scheme had been in operation since 2019 and defrauded victims out of $7.15 million. One player in 2023 was defrauded out of $1.8 million, the indictment states.
And Billups’ involvement in gambling could have gone even further.
In a separate indictment filed in New York on Oct. 16, said someone matching Billups’ description provided information to gamblers before the team’s game against the Chicago Bulls on March 24, 2023.
The co-conspirator — whose description matches Billups entire career in professional basketball — allegedly told gamblers that the Trail Blazers were tanking and would be sitting out certain star players. The information was not available to the public or gambling companies.
The gamblers then placed multiple bets on the Trail Blazers to lose, totaling more than $100,000. Portland lost by 28 points. It was one of several games listed, in which people involved with other NBA teams allegedly provided inside information on games to gamblers.
Billups signed a multi-year contract extension with the Trail Blazers in April. He’s been head coach since 2021.
This story is developing and will be updated.