Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Heat’s Terry Rozier arrested in FBI sports gambling investigation

Trail Blazers coach and NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Heat guard Terry Rozier have been arrested in connection with an FBI sports betting and poker probe.

Former Cavaliers star and assistant coach Damon Jones also has been arrested in the investigation, which resulted in two indictments.

The Hornets, Trail Blazers, Lakers and Raptors were cited in the sports betting investigation by Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, during a press conference on Thursday.

FBI director Kash Patel labeled the 30-plus arrests across the NBA and organized crime as “historic.”

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“This is an illegal gambling operation and sports-rigging operation that spans the course of years,” said Patel, who added that the operation crossed 11 states.

Billups, 49, has been charged in an illegal poker scheme linked to organized crime.

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Rozier has been charged in the sports betting probe that connects to prop bets manipulation, which earned Jontay Porter his lifetime NBA ban.

The 31-year-old Rozier previously had been under investigation for unusual betting activity during his time with the Hornets, specifically a March 2023 contest, but the NBA did not find any violation.

Jones, 49, is one of three defendants charged in both cases, per Nocella.

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Rozier and Billups are scheduled to appear in federal courts on Thursday in their arrest locations, with Rozier set for Orlando and Billups in Portland, and are scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn in the future.

Rozier’s agent, Jim Trusty, criticized his client’s arrest.

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“A long time ago we reached out to these prosecutors to tell them we should have an open line of communication. They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel,” Trusty told The Post.

“It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self-surrender they opted for a photo op. They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case.”

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Nocella said the first indictment involves six defendants who allegedly participated in “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting came widely legalized in the United States,” specifically within the NBA.

The second indictment involves 31 defendants who allegedly participated in rigged illegal poker games, which included former professional athletes.

Rozier is one of the six defendants in the NBA-related investigation, each of whom was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, per Nocella.

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His specific allegations tie back to a March 23, 2023 contest against the Pelicans when Rozier exited after playing the first 9:36 and did not return due to a foot issue in what would be his final tilt of the season.

He tallied five points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal in that time, and one X user posted at the time how they allegedly had been tipped off that Rozier would exit early.

That knowledge would affect prop betting, where gamblers bet on a player’s statistics for a game.

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An “unexpected” amount of bets came in on Rozier’s Under for that game, per ESPN, which resulted in some sportsbooks preventing further wagers on his prop lines.

The NBA investigated the issue and did not punish Rozier.

“In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said earlier this year.

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“The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.”

Rozier did not comment at the time about the matter, and Trusty told ESPN earlier this year that his client met several times with NBA and FBI officials in 2023 regarding the case.

“On advice from counsel, I can’t answer any questions about that matter,” he said in January.

The former Louisville star did not play in Miami’s season-opening 125-121 loss to the Magic on Wednesday despite being available.

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He was arrested at a hotel in Orlando on Thursday morning, per ESPN.

Rozier played for the Hornets from 2019-24 before being acquired by Miami during the 2023-24 season, and is in the final season of a four-year, $96.3 million deal.

Billups, a former NBA star who played in the league from 1997-2014, just started his fifth season guiding the Trail Blazers.

Nocella said Billups’ involvement in the gambling allegations came after his career ended and prior to him beginning as Portland’s coach prior to the 2021-22 season.

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Billups was arrested Thursday morning in Oregon, one day after guiding Portland during its 118-114 season-opening loss to the Timberwolves on Wednesday. He owns a 117-212 mark, leading the franchise.

He spent most of his career with the Pistons, while also suiting up for the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Clippers, Celtics, Raptors and Knicks to earn his way into the Hall of Fame last year.

Chris Heywood, an attorney for Billups, told ESPN through a statement that the former guard is a “man of integrity” who intends to fight the case.

“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others,” Heywood said.”

“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”

The alleged rigged gambling scheme purportedly swindled victims out of tens of millions.

Jones bounced around during his 11-season career, playing for 10 teams.

He spent the most time — three seasons — with the Cavaliers, and he later joined the organization as an assistant coach.

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The NBA has been at the center of recent sports gambling probes in the aftermath of Porter, an ex-Raptor, receiving a lifelong suspension for manipulating his prop markets and betting on games.

“A league investigation found that Porter violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA game,” the NBA said in its release announcing his ban.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this week on the “Pat McAfee Show” that the NBA is working with sportsbooks while legalized betting continues to grow.

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“We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score,” Silver said Tuesday.

“Maybe a couple rebounds that some players gets or something. We’re trying to put in place, and learning as we go and working with the betting companies, some additional control to prevent some of that manipulation.”

Former Pistons guard Malik Beasley also came under investigation fro the U.S. District Attorney’s Office regarding allegations of gambling on games and prop betting.

A source told The Post in August that he was still a subject in a federal probe, although Beasley has yet to be charged with any wrongdoing.