The sports world was rocked in late October by federal indictments alleging a sprawling, multi-state gambling scandal that spanned years and implicated multiple high-profile NBA figures.

Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and ex-Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested and charged on Oct. 23 as part of a sweeping probe into illegal betting schemes. Billups and Jones have pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them, while Rozier is due in court on Dec. 8.

The fallout since their arrests has been swift, as the NBA placed Billups and Rozier on immediate leave and began reviewing its rules related to injury reporting in light of the allegations. Other sports organizations, such as the NFL and NCAA, also reacted to the situation.

Here’s how the scandal has unfolded around the NBA:

Oct. 23, 2025 (morning): Arrests and allegations

Law enforcement detail the allegations against Billups, Rozier and Jones during a 10 a.m. ET news conference in New York, with prosecutors saying at least two cases — one related to sports betting and the other related to illegal poker games — are ongoing separately but with some overlap.

“The fraud is mind-boggling,” FBI director Kash Patel says. “We’re talking tens of millions of dollars in theft and fraud and robbery.”

Billups and Rozier are indicted on wire-fraud conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy charges, with both charges carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.

Billups, who had coached the Portland Trail Blazers since 2021, is charged in connection with the probe into the poker games, which prosecutors allege were rigged and involved members of New York City mafia crime families. He also appears to be implicated in the sports betting case, though he is not formally charged in that case. Rozier is alleged to have conspired with others to influence prop bets on his performance in a game in March 2023, when he played for the Charlotte Hornets.

Jones, a former teammate of LeBron James, is charged in both cases — for his alleged involvement in the same poker scheme as Billups and for allegedly providing bettors information about the availability of James and other Los Angeles Lakers players for games on which Jones’ co-conspirators bet. (A source close to James tells The Athletic’s Dan Woike and Joe Vardon that James was unaware that Jones, whom he considered a friend, was tipping information about him and the Lakers to bettors.)

Oct. 23, 2025 (afternoon): The fallout

The NBA releases a statement around noon ET, saying it is reviewing the federal indictments and that Billups and Rozier are being placed on immediate leave from their teams. “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the league says.

The Trail Blazers release their own statement, saying the organization is “fully cooperating with the investigation” and that assistant coach Tiago Splitter will take over as interim head coach while Billups is on leave.

The players’ union, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), also issues a statement on the indictments. “The integrity of the game is paramount to NBA players, but so is the presumption of innocence, and both are hindered when player popularity is misused to gain attention,” it says. “We will ensure our members are protected and afforded their due process rights through this process.”

Meanwhile, hours after his arrest, Rozier appears at a hearing in federal court in Orlando, Fla. He is released on bond after putting up his $6 million home as collateral, according to reports. He also agrees to conditions that include surrendering his passport and not gambling. He’s due to appear in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Dec. 8.

Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, says in a statement: “Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”

Billups later attends his hearing in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., and is eventually released. He agrees to appear in the same federal court in Brooklyn as Rozier, but with a Nov. 24 court date. He also agrees to travel restrictions, forfeiting his passport and not gambling in the interim. Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, says in a statement that his client is “a man of integrity” and “he will fight these allegations with the same tenacity that marked his 28-year career.”

“We look forward to our day in court,” the statement says.

Chauncey Billups leaving the courthouse in Portland, Oregon 👀

He was arrested early Thursday morning as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling activities. pic.twitter.com/OGjRNmeHyG

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) October 23, 2025

Oct. 23 (evening): NBA coaches react

Ahead of two NBA games, multiple coaches speak to reporters about the situation. When discussing safeguards to prevent future issues, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr says the organization’s legal counsel spoke to the team earlier in the week. Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman and Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle also say their teams had a similar presentation.

“Every team in the league does this, goes through bulletin points of everything that is not allowed in this issue,” Kerr says. “So our players are well aware, all players are well aware, of what they’re allowed to do, what they’re not allowed to do.”

Carlisle, the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, says he contacted Billups to “see how he was doing” after the arrest, but that Billups “did not answer” at the time.

“The coaches association, we support all of our coaches,” Carlisle says. “So I reached out to him and his representatives, and I’ll leave it at that.”

Oct. 24: Adam Silver responds

A day after the arrests, NBA commissioner Adam Silver publicly addresses the situation for the first time, saying he was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations involving Billups, Rozier and Jones.

“There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition, so I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting,” Silver says during an interview on Amazon Prime about his initial reaction to the news.

During the interview, conducted at Madison Square Garden during a Boston Celtics-New York Knicks game, Silver explains why a 2023 NBA probe into the same matter cleared Rozier of wrongdoing. He says the NBA’s investigation concluded there was “insufficient evidence” despite “aberrational behavior,” and that the federal government has “extraordinary powers the league doesn’t have.”

Silver says betting companies and regulators informed the league of the aberrational gambling patterns around the March 2023 game in question.

“We then looked into that situation and were very, very concerned about it. And while there was aberrational betting, we frankly couldn’t find anything,” Silver says. “Terry, at the time, cooperated. He gave the league office his phone, he sat down for an interview, and we ultimately concluded there was insufficient evidence despite that aberrational behavior.

“We then worked directly with law enforcement — as they said at the press conference, the league has been cooperating. That was obviously almost two years ago. So the federal government has subpoena power. (It can) threaten to put people in jail, can do all sorts of things the league office can’t do.”

Silver also expresses regret that the news overshadowed the start of the NBA season, saying, “I apologize to our fans that we are all dealing with, now, this situation. But in terms of the competition on the floor, it’s been spectacular.”

The news continues to cast a pall over the league, and other NBA figures weigh in with their reactions. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and players express support for Rozier. Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, an NBPA vice president, says he believes the league has not done enough to prepare players for the legalized sports betting landscape and its side effects. Splitter says before the Trail Blazers’ game against the Warriors that he hasn’t had any contact with Billups since his arrest, and the mood of the team’s Oct. 23 practice was “not great.”

“We are thinking of him and his family, but we have a job to do,” Splitter says.

In the wake of the scandal, members of Congress send a bipartisan letter to Silver requesting a briefing on the gambling scandal by Oct. 31. The letter, signed by six members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, requests answers on certain areas such as the league’s rules on sports betting, the disclosure of information in these types of cases and how the league is reevaluating its partnerships with sports betting companies.

Separately, The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf obtains memos the NFL sent out to remind players, coaches and league personnel of the importance of adhering to its gambling policy.

Oct. 26: Clippers fans taunt Blazers with ‘F-B-I’ chants

In another illustration of how dominant the storyline is, Los Angeles Clippers fans taunt Trail Blazers players as they step up to the free-throw line with chants of “F-B-I,” according to video posted on social media. The Clippers leave the home contest with a 114-107 win.

Oct. 27: NBA reviewing injury reporting

In light of the indictments, NBA general counsel Rick Buchanan and executive Dan Spillane send a memo to all 30 teams, saying it is an “opportune time to carefully reassess how sports betting should be regulated and how sports leagues can best protect themselves, their players, and their fans.”

The memo calls for heightened “legal/regulatory” procedures to protect the league’s integrity. It also says a review process is underway regarding how teams report injuries, and “with sports betting now occupying such a significant part of the current sports landscape, every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches, and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods; that our injury disclosure rules are appropriate; and that players are protected from harassment from bettors.”

Regarding the current injury-reporting process, teams may first declare a player’s injury designation in the late afternoon the day before a game, but they don’t have to formally rule out a player until 30 minutes before tipoff.

Also on Oct. 27, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), sends a letter to Silver asking for a briefing in writing and documentation from the NBA related to the league’s policies on sports betting, plans to address alleged sports betting, relevant investigations, communications regarding suspicious sports bets, and findings from the league’s investigation into Rozier’s alleged gambling.

“This Committee needs to understand the specifics of the NBA’s investigation and why Rozier was cleared to continue playing basketball,” the letter says. It requests a response deadline of Nov. 10.

Oct. 29: Union appealing move to place Rozier on unpaid leave

The Athletic reports that the NBPA will appeal the NBA’s decision to place Rozier on unpaid leave after his arrest. League sources confirm to The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov and Sam Amick that Rozier’s $26.4 million salary — the last of a four-year, $96.3 million contract — will be placed in escrow.

Separately, reports circulate during the week that the IRS filed an $8.2 million tax lien against Rozier in November 2023. Court records also show that a Florida-based construction company filed a lien against Rozier in August 2022 for more than $270,000, and that Rozier paid all but $20,000 of what he owed to the company in July 2023.

Regarding the tax lien, Trusty (Rozier’s attorney) says in a statement: “Several years ago, a flawed e-filing attempt led to the IRS issuing a lien for Terry’s full tax liability for 2021, roughly $8 million. Once the accountant clarified the situation with the IRS, Terry was found to owe only $3,000 in unpaid taxes for 2021. That amount has been taken care of and we fully expect the defunct lien to be withdrawn in the near future.”

Oct. 30: Billups hires high-profile attorney

The Athletic’s Sam Amick reports that Billups has hired attorney Marc Mukasey to represent him in the case related to the federal gambling investigation.

Mukasey’s high-profile client list has included President Donald Trump and Joe Sanberg, a co-founder of Aspiration, the company at the center of an NBA investigation related to the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard’s endorsement deals.

Mukasey and his father, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, also worked with Rudy Giuliani in 2007 as advisers during his presidential campaign. Marc also previously worked at the former New York mayor’s law firm.

Nov. 5: NBA officials, Congressional staffers meet on Capitol Hill

NBA attorneys and a gambling consultant answer questions from lawyers and congressional aides for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, whose leaders previously sent a letter to Silver requesting information related to the scandal. Silver and lawmakers are not present during the staff-level meeting in Washington, D.C.

A Congressional source briefed on the meeting tells The Athletic’s Joe Vardon that the meeting, which lasted for less than an hour and focused on topics outlined in the letter, was productive. “We will continue our investigation to ensure the integrity of the sport and support athletes,” the source says. (Three representatives from The House’s energy and commerce committee also sent a letter to the NCAA on Oct. 31, warning NCAA president Charlie Baker that Congress was examining the association’s plans to allow athletes and athletic department staff to bet on professional sports.)

Nov. 6: Jones pleads not guilty

Damon Jones, one of three people charged in both indictments related to an alleged illicit sports gambling scheme and an alleged rigged poker ring, pleads not guilty to the related charges in Brooklyn federal court. He is released on $200,000 bond, backed by his mother and stepfather.

Marves Fairley, who prosecutors allege was involved in the sports betting ring, also pleads not guilty to the relevant charges and is released on a $200,000 bond.

Nov. 24: Billups pleads not guilty

Billups is arraigned in Brooklyn federal court on Nov. 24 and pleads not guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy charges tied to his alleged involvement in illegal poker games. He is released on a $5 million bond, secured by using his Colorado home as collateral, and signed by his wife and one of his daughters.

Billups, Jones and the other 29 people charged in the case are present at the courthouse, where a status update on the case is provided.

“I want things to start by September of next year,” says Ramon Reyes, the federal judge overseeing the case. “Do whatever you have to get it ready to go.”

The next status hearing for the case is scheduled for March 4.