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10/23 10:47 CDT Who are Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones? A look
at arrested NBA player and coaches
Who are Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones? A look at arrested NBA
player and coaches
By The Associated Press
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier
and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Damon Jones were arrested Thursday in
connection with a federal investigation into illegal sports betting and rigged
poker games back by Mafia.
Billups is charged in an indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig
underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families, authorities said.
Rozier and Jones are accused in a separate indictment of participating in an
illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information.
Here's a look at the NBA figures involved:
Chauncey Billups Billups, 49, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2024. The Denver native played college ball at Colorado, then was the No. 3 pick by Boston in 1997. He also played for Toronto, Denver (two stints), Minnesota, Detroit (two stints), the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Clippers in a 17-year playing career. Billups was a five-time All-Star and won a championship with Detroit in 2004, when he was named the NBA Finals MVP. On Nov. 16, 2020, Billups was named a Clippers assistant on coach Tyronn Lue's staff. Billups was hired as Portland's coach in 2021 and signed a multi-year extension with the Trail Blazers on April 13. Billups took a 117-211 coaching record into this season. Billups was known as Mr. Big Shot during his playing career and won the Joe Dumars Trophy, the NBA's sportsmanship award, in 2009 while playing for his hometown Nuggets. Terry Rozier Rozier, 30, was raised primarily by his mother as his father, Terry Rozier Sr., has been in prison for most of the younger Rozier's life. Rozier, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, was a standout guard at Louisville who was the 16th pick by the Boston Celtics in 2015. Rozier was traded to Charlotte on July 6, 2019 and flourished with the Hornets. He set career highs by averaging 18 points in the 2019-20 season, 20.4 points the following season and 21.1 points in 2022-23. Onn Jan. 23, 2024, Rozier was traded to Miami for Kyle Lowry. Rozier averaged 10.6 points for Miami in the 2024-25 season while playing in 64 games, including 23 starts. In 2018, Rozier became only the second player in NBA history to record a triple-double in his first start when he scored 17 points with 11 rebounds and 10 assists in Boston's 103-73 win over the Knicks. Rozier's game on March 23, 2023 for Charlotte against New Orleans has been in question. He played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds in the first quarter before exiting and did not play again in that game or the final eight games of the season. Charlotte was not in playoff contention, so it did not seem particularly unusual that Rozier was shut down. However, posts still online from that 2023 game show that some bettors were furious with sportsbooks. Many posted on social media that something "shady" had gone on regarding the prop bets involving Rozier's stats for that night. A prop is a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistical number, such as whether the player will finish over or under a certain total of points, rebounds, assists and more. Rozier was in uniform as the Heat played the Magic in Orlando Wednesday evening, though he did not play in the game. Damon Jones Jones, 49, was an unofficial assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2022-23 when he allegedly was involved with the betting scheme, according to the indictment. He's been coaching since at least 2014 after finishing an 11-year NBA playing career. He is from Galveston, Texas, and played for Houston in college before suiting up with NBA teams in New Jersey, Boston, Golden State, Dallas, Vancouver, Detroit, Sacramento, Milwaukee, Miami and Cleveland. Jones averaged 11.6 points in the 2004-05 season with Miami, his only season scoring in double figures. Jones joined Cleveland's coaching staff in 2014 as a shooting consultant. He was on Tyronn Lue's Cleveland staff for the postseason in 2016 and was named a full-time assistant for the Cavaliers later that year. He also worked as a TV analyst for ESPN in 2018. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba |
