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Tim Bontemps
NEW YORK – In his first public comments since the federal indictments were announced Thursday Miami Heat guard terry rosier And portland trail blazers Coach Chauncey Billups, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was “deeply troubled” by the allegations made by federal authorities.
“My initial reaction was I was very upset,” Silver said in an interview with Amazon at the start of the second quarter of Friday’s game. new York Knicks And boston celtics At Madison Square Garden. “There is nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition.
“And so I got a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”
Silver also detailed the events that led to the NBA investigating “unusual behavior” surrounding a game on March 23, 2023 – one of several in the indictment – that involved Rozier while he was playing for the NBA. charlotte hornets against in new orleans pelican,
Rozier was investigated by the NBA, and the league said at the time that it “found no violations of NBA rules” and he continued playing.
“So what happened was that while the bets were placed legally through legitimate betting companies, they behaved unusually around a particular game in March 2023,” Silver said. “And so, it was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting companies. We then looked at that situation and were very transparent about it. And while that was unusual betting, we, frankly, couldn’t find anything.”
Silver also said that Rozier had cooperated with league officials at the time, including being interviewed by him and surrendering his phone, before “we ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence despite that outrageous behavior,” and reiterated that the league has continued to work with the government.
“The federal government has subpoena power,” Silver said. ,[It] Can threaten to put people in jail, can do all kinds of things that the league office can’t do. So, we have been working with them since then. And, of course, what they announced yesterday was an indictment.
“And two and a half years later, in fairness to Terry, he still hasn’t been convicted of anything. Obviously, it doesn’t feel good, but he’s been put on administrative leave, and so it’s a balance between protecting people’s rights and investigating. And like I said, we’re dealing with the government, and they have extraordinary powers that the league office doesn’t have.”
Rozier, Billups and East cleveland cavaliers guard and coach damon jones 34 people were indicted Thursday as part of two sweeping federal investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.
The NBA placed Rozier and Billups on immediate leave from their teams on Thursday and said in a statement that it would continue to work with federal authorities on the investigation, officials said Thursday as the investigation continues.
According to the case filing, between December 2022 and March 2024, a group of co-conspirators placed bets on at least seven NBA games involving the Hornets, orlando magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Trail Blazers – using non-public information.
According to the indictment, Rozier is accused of sharing insider information, removing himself early from at least one game for the benefit of gamblers and profiting from those bets.
According to the indictment, Rozier allegedly told his childhood friend DeNiro Laster, who was also named in the indictment, that he would remove himself from the Hornets-Pelicans game in the first quarter due to an alleged injury. Laster allegedly sold the information to two speculators for approximately $100,000.
According to the indictment, those bettors, along with their associates and a network of proxy bettors, used the information to place bets on Rozier’s under. According to the indictment, the money at stake was in lakhs. Several bets were won after Rozier removed himself from the game after nine minutes with 5 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and David Purdum contributed to this report.
