NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday he was „deeply disturbed“ of indictments involving illegal gambling, including a current coach and player.
Oct. 25 NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for the first time commented on federal indictments of illegal gambling involving a current player and coach, saying he was „deeply disturbed“ about the allegations.
On Thursday, two schemes were detailed, one involving NBA games and online sports betting, and another cheating at illegal poker games.
The 32 arrests included Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
„There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition“, Silver said in a halftime interview during Friday’s Boston Celtics-New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. „And so I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.“
Silver said that a league investigation was prompted after legal sportsbooks picked up unusual behavior around a game two years ago between the host New Orleans Pelicans and the Charlotte Hornets.
„Because bets were placed through legal betting companies, they picked up aberrational behavior around a particular game in March of ’23“, Silver, who has been NBA commissioner since 2014, said in the interview. „So that was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting company. We then looked into that situation, and we were very transparent about it. While there was that aberrational betting, we frankly couldn’t find anything.
„Terry, at the time, cooperated and gave the league office his phone.
