Rumors

To wit: The Blazers are the only NBA team in the playoffs who are not traveling their two-way players, a move to save on hotels and food first reported by The Rose Garden Report. Also, the team’s traveling party of support staff was trimmed — the award-winning team photographer and digital reporter did not travel with the team for its playoff series in San Antonio. And as Splitter has done an admirable job as interim coach — he was thrust into the position before the season’s second game when Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI in a gambling probe — Dundon has conducted a phone-book’s worth of interviews with college and pro coaches, breaching the etiquette that sitting NBA coaches are usually afforded.

New York Times

Shams Charania: Free agent Malik Beasley has signed a deal to play in Puerto Rico for Grammy Award-winning artist Bad Bunny's team Santurce Crabbers, both parties tell ESPN. The team's season begins in March. Beasley has been under NBA and FBI investigations for gambling allegations.

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Pablo Torre: Joe Sandberg, the co-founder of Aspiration—one of these guys Steve Ballmer trusted, and later we realized, too late, “I shouldn’t have trusted this guy to deceive the NBA”—got arrested by the FBI and is awaiting sentencing. He has a hearing in April. And what I’m told by multiple Aspiration employees is that the reason Joe Sandberg got arrested—the domino that tipped all of this over, that started a federal investigation that finally got Steve Ballmer out of the Aspiration business was because there was at least one whistleblower inside the company who went directly to the federal government and submitted, presumably in writing and under penalty of perjury, a complaint. And that complaint was the roadmap to get everybody else who committed criminal acts actually in trouble. And the question that has been raised to me over and over again was: did that whistleblower, under penalty of perjury, mention Steve Ballmer and circumventing the NBA salary cap in writing? Did they put it into that complaint that started everything? Because if that document exists, that is the closest thing you could ever have to a smoking gun on letterhead, under government supervision.

YouTube

While Rozier is not expected to be back in NBA uniform before the expiration of his contract at season’s end, and while he had his Monday arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court as part of the FBI’s ongoing gambling investigation, his salary potentially could bridge the gap under the NBA salary cap when it comes to a trade. The NBA’s personnel market is expected to shift into a higher gear starting next Monday, with Dec. 15 the date when most players signed in the offseason become eligible to be dealt.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Anthony Chiang: Heat guard Terry Rozier is scheduled to be arraigned at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn later today after being arrested in October as part of the FBI gambling investigation. Rozier remains away from the Heat.

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Tim Donaghy: I think we're just at the tip of the iceberg. I think when you talk about arrests being made by the FBI, I think the guys that are arrested are going to sit down and be scared to death with what they're facing and they're going to start to cooperate and they're going to tell the FBI everything they know. And this thing is going to spread like wildfire and you're going to find out that this is a lot bigger than it is right now. And it's pretty big.

YouTube

In no world could Holiday see Billups' arrest coming. In no way could he picture Billups being involved in what he's been accused of. It's a line that's been whispered across all levels of the NBA this past week, from the Blazers' locker room to opposing coaches and players, from people merely in Billups' orbit to those in his inner circle. The man portrayed in the FBI indictment is not the man they thought they knew. "Honestly," Holiday said, "we were shocked."

ESPN

Shams Charania: Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups will not be paid while on leave of absences from their teams, sources tell ESPN. Both of their paychecks are expected to be withheld and placed in escrow, pending outcome of FBI cases.

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Last week, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested as part of two FBI investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the mafia. Green’s response: “There’s bad apples everywhere.” “You go to any sport, any organization, anything, there’s bad apples everywhere,” Green said. “But let’s not try to act like Adam Silver has just built this league that does not care about people gambling. And because there’s a Fanatics sportsbook, a DraftKings, a FanDuel sponsorship, that Adam just doesn’t care about players gambling. Like, stop the bulls—. Cut it out. We watch these gambling videos every year. They’re on top of this stuff.”

New York Times

Kevin Love is backpedaling after mocking Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier's arrests ... saying after having a conversation with Damian Lillard, he now understands it's not a laughing matter. Love -- who currently plays for the Utah Jazz -- shared his immediate reaction to the bombshell news in an Instagram post on Thursday ... shortly after the FBI arrested the Trail Blazers coach and Miami Heat guard in a gambling scandal.

TMZ.com

Fullcourtpass: “People that that we might not even know are involved are waiting to see if their name gets brought up… the FBI are continuing to gather information and seeing who out of this new group of arrests are going to cooperate with the authorities.” — Shams

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MrBuckBuck: FBI Director Kash Patel fires back at Stephen A. Smith claiming the NBA gambling bust was "REVENGE" from President Trump for the NBA's left-wing activism: "That may be the single DUMBST thing I've ever heard out of anyone in modern history. And I live most of my time in Washington, D.C."

bsky.app

Shams Charania: Statement from Chauncey Billups' attorney to ESPN, making clear that Billups, like Terry Rozier, will fight the FBI's charges: Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others. 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. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game. Furthermore, Chauncey Billups has never and would never gamble on basketball games, provide insider information, or sacrifice the trust of his team and the League, as it would tarnish the game he has devoted his entire life to. Chauncey Billups has never backed down. He does not plan to do so now. He will fight these allegations with the same tenacity that marked his 28-year career. We look forward to our day in court. Chris Heywood Attorney for Chauncey Billups

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MrBuckBuck: Shams Charania: I heard [FBI Director] Kash Patel was leading this which let me know how big this is for the government/leagues. [Smith] The timing of this on a big night for the NBA was to send a message. People believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, the administration is coming

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