In the wake of federal indictments and arrests in two illegal gambling probes — including Hall of Famer and Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, as well as former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones — the NBA investigation into those charges moves forward as well, according to a new report.
That report also suggests the NBA could soon tighten its injury reporting restrictions, which theoretically could have prevented instances of inside information on injuries being sold to gamblers, leading to the federal charges.
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Congress members have asked the NBA why it had previously investigated Terry Rozier (another player arrested and charged by federal prosecutors) and not found any evidence of this alleged gambling. The NBA has responded by expanding its investigation. It had previously hired the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to handle the investigation, and the firm has now reached out to multiple NBA teams, including the Lakers, asking for their phones, according to Joe Vardon, Mike Vorunov and Sam Amick of The Athletic.
As a result of the charges filed against Damon Jones, a former NBA player and LeBron James’ former shooting coach who had special access to the Lakers, Wachtell investigators are expected to seek documents, including cell phones and phone records, from at least 10 Lakers employees, league sources told The Athletic. Per league sources, Lakers assistant trainer Mike Mancias and executive administrator Randy Mims are among the employees who are already cooperating and who voluntarily handed their cell phones over to investigators. Both Mancias and Mims are employed by the Lakers because of their ties to James.
To be clear, LeBron, Mancias, and Mims are not charged with any crimes nor have they been mentioned in the federal investigation, the questions are more about what they might have known about Jones and his actions (Jones was arrested in part for allegedly selling inside information about LeBron’s health and status to gamblers). Mancias is LeBron’s personal trainer and has been for decades, Mims has been close to LeBron his entire career.
It’s not just the Lakers. The Athletic report talks about a focus on several other teams.
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At least two team executives for organizations mentioned in the charges against Jones and Rozier were notified by the league of an expanding investigation, league sources said.
One of those teams was apparently not Orlando, according to the report. However, as noted by The Athletic, the Magic were mentioned in federal investigations, tied to allegations that a “former regularly starting player” sold information to gamblers that the Magic planned to rest their starters in an April 2023 game against Cleveland. The Magic have made clear previously that the player in question is no longer a member of the organization.
New injury reporting guidelines
One change could come soon in the wake of the investigations: The NBA is reportedly looking into revising and tightening its injury reporting regulations, according to the report.
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The NBA is barreling toward substantial changes in team rules for reporting injury statuses for players as part of the fallout from the ongoing betting scandal. In theory, the incidents surrounding the Lakers, Magic and Blazers could have been prevented with tighter rules governing when players must be declared injured in information released to the public.
Teams (some more than others, but all of them to some extent) try to keep injury information close to the vest, especially when it is day-to-day, both because it gives the team flexibility and forces opponents to game plan for more possibilities. Teams are intentionally vague about injury status, sometimes driven by coaches or front offices seeking a competitive edge (a trend that is far from exclusive to the NBA). Players will be officially listed as “day-to-day” for weeks, and their status could change to “probable” or “available” as late as possible to allow them to participate in a game. The League is looking to tighten this up.
It appears that the league is poised to crack down on this issue with new regulations and guidelines, which could be introduced sooner rather than later.
