NBA commissioner Adam Silver ‘deeply disturbed’ by indictments

NEW YORK — In his first public comments since federal indictments were announced Thursday involving Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations brought forward by federal authorities.

“My first reaction was that I was deeply disturbed,” Silver said Friday in an interview with Amazon at the start of the second quarter of the game between the New York Knicks and the 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 had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”

Silver also explained the events that led the NBA to investigate “aberrational behavior” surrounding a March 23, 2023, game — one of several in the indictment — involving Rozier while he played for the Charlotte Hornets in New Orleans against the Pelicans.

Rozier was investigated by the NBA, and the league said at the time that it “did not find a violation of NBA rules” and he continued to play.

“So what happened was because the bets were being placed through legalized, legalized betting companies, they detected aberrational behavior around a particular game in March 2023,” Silver said. “And so, that was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting companies. We then looked into that situation and were very transparent about it. And even though there were these aberrational bets, we frankly didn’t find anything.”

Silver also said that Rozier cooperated with league officials at the time, including being interviewed by them and returning his phone, before “we ultimately concluded that there was not enough evidence, despite this aberrational behavior,” and reiterated that the league 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 sorts of things that the league office can’t do. So we’ve been working with them ever since. And of course, what they announced yesterday was an indictment.

“And two and a half years later, he still hasn’t been convicted of anything, to be fair to Terry. Obviously, it’s not looking good, but he was put on administrative leave, and so it’s a balancing act here between protecting people’s rights and investigating. And like I said, we’ve been working with the government, and they have extraordinary powers that the league office doesn’t have.”

Rozier, Billups and former Cleveland Cavaliers guard and coach Damon Jones were among 34 people indicted Thursday in two wide-ranging federal investigations involving illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.

The NBA placed Rozier and Billups on immediate leave from their teams Thursday and said in a statement that it would continue to work with federal authorities on the investigations, which officials said Thursday were ongoing.

According to the filing, between December 2022 and March 2024, a group of co-conspirators bet on at least seven NBA games involving the Hornets, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Trail Blazers – using non-public information.

Rozier is accused of sharing inside information, prematurely withdrawing from at least one game to benefit players and profiting from those bets, according to the indictment.

Rozier allegedly told Deniro Laster, a childhood friend also named in the indictment, that he would withdraw from the Hornets-Pelicans game in the first quarter due to an alleged injury, according to the indictment. Laster allegedly sold the information to two punters for around $100,000.

These bettors, along with their associates and a network of proxy bettors, used this information to bet on Rozier’s unders, according to the indictment. The money wagered amounted to hundreds of thousands, according to the indictment. Many bets were won after Rozier left the game after nine minutes, with 5 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and David Purdum contributed to this report.