NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made his first public comments on the ongoing gambling scandal that has hit the league this week.
“There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition,” Silver said during the Friday, October 24, pregame NBA on Prime broadcast. “So I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”
Silver, 63, went on to tell reporter Cassidy Hubbarth ahead of the New York Knicks game against the Boston Celtics that he is “deeply disturbed” by the situation.
Federal officials arrested nearly three dozen people, including Miami Heat star Terry Rozier and Portland Trailblazers coach Chauncey Billups, on gambling-related charges on Thursday, October 23.
Rozier allegedly conspired to help associates win bets based on his in-game performances, while Billups is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in what officials are calling Mafia-backed rigged poker games.
Rozier was also investigated by the league back in March of 2023, after the NBA was notified about unusual betting activity related to his performance in a game. According to federal officials, in that March 2023 game Rozier played only nine and half minutes while over $200,000 was bet on that stat line.
At the time, the league “did not find a violation of NBA rules,” and Rozier was allowed to continue playing. With the new developments this week, Rozier has been placed on immediate leave, along with Billups.
On the Amazon Prime broadcast, Silver was asked about that 2023 decision to allow Rozier to continue playing, and said that at the time the league concluded that there was “insufficient evidence despite the aberrational behavior.”
“We then looked into that situation and were very transparent about it,” Silver said. “And while there was that aberrational betting, we frankly couldn’t find anything.
He continued, “We then worked directly with law enforcement. That was obviously over two years ago. … We’ve been working with them since then.”
Both Rozier and Billups released statements through their attorneys denying any wrongdoing.
On Thursday, former NBA star and current basketball analyst Charles Barkley commented on the situation, saying the scandal has nothing to do with gambling addiction.
“Under no circumstances can you fix basketball games,” said Barkley on ESPN’s pregame show. “Under no circumstances. I love to gamble, the notion, Rozier makes $26 million. Him betting, giving people information or taking yourself out of games, how much is he going to benefit taking himself out of the game to get unders? He’s making $26 million.”
The scandal comes less than a week into the NBA’s season.
“I apologize to our fans that we are all dealing with this situation, but in terms of the competition on the floor, it’s been spectacular,” Silver said. “I should’ve started with how excited we are to be on Amazon. I wouldn’t have predicted that my first interview ever on Amazon would be about sports betting.”
According to the Associated Press, the NBA has at least 14 relationships with sportsbooks, including FanDuel and DraftKings, with some individual teams securing their own deals with the sportsbooks as well.
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