On Thursday, October 23, Head Coach Chauncy Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for connections to mafia-linked poker games. Billups is also allegedly involved in illegal sports betting.
“Victims were attracted to play alongside well-known professional athletes and coaches like Chauncey Billups only to be unknowingly deceived through rigged shuffling machines, fixing the odds in their favor as alleged,” explained Christopher Rea, the assistant director for the FBI New York Field Office, during a press conference.
Billups was allegedly involved in four different mafia groups: the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families. Billups, among other former and current NBA players, worked with these groups to attract victims to play poker games that were rigged with complex technology, including X-ray tables, altered shuffle machines, marked cards, and wireless communication. These tools helped the crime families steal millions of dollars from victims across multiple games.
Billups was accused of receiving at least $50,000 for his participation in a poker game in October 2020. It is also believed he was associated with another game in April 2019 that defrauded victims out of another $50,000. However, federal prosecutors suspect Billups’s involvement goes deeper, estimating he helped defraud $7 million out of victims across multiple rigged games since 2019.
Billups’s controversy doesn’t stop at mafia-tied poker games. He also appears to be an unnamed co-conspirator identified in a criminal indictment relating to illegal sports betting. CNBC explains the co-conspirator was described in the accusation as “telling another man the team planned to intentionally lose a March 2023 game against the Chicago Bulls to improve the Trail Blazers’ chances of getting a better pick in the NBA draft.” The man who received the tip shared it with other sports betters, who placed online bets on the Trail Blazers’ game, totalling $100,000 that the Blazers would lose to the Bulls. The Blazers lost 124-96 after their four leading scorers of the season did not play.
While Billups was not charged in the case, the unnamed co-conspirator was described as “a resident of Oregon” who “was an NBA player from approximately 1997 through 2014, and an NBA coach since at least 2021.” These descriptions align with Billups, sparking allegations that he could be involved.
Billups’s attorney, Chris Heywood, denies the federal gambling charges and the allegations. “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,” Heywood said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
Despite his attorney’s denial, the Portland Trail Blazers have placed Billups on indefinite leave as they continue to deal with the situation. The NBA released the statement, “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
Billups’s suspension has left a deep sense of confusion and shock among the Trail Blazers’ fans, players, and the NBA as a whole. “It’s hard to process,” shared Tyronn Lue, Billups’s best friend and head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. “I believe in Chauncey’s character. I know who he is as a person. I’ve been with him since I was 17 years old. So, it’s just hard to see something like this happen.”
As shocking as the news is, the Blazers are working to focus on their game. Damien Lillard addressed the team in an impromptu meeting after the news broke, encouraging them to “Stay together. No matter what happens. Or how much you might be worried about Billups or his family. Stay together. Because other teams aren’t going to feel sorry for us.”
Billups’s arraignment is scheduled for November 24, 2025. Whether found guilty or not guilty of these charges, Billups’s story has shaken the NBA deeply. Only time will tell the effect on the Blazers and their fanbase. Until then, we can expect the team to take Jrue Holiday’s advice: “We still have to go on, so that’s what we do.”
