NBA Betting Scandal: Kevin Garnett Rumored to Have Been Involved in Rigged Poker Games
Posted on: October 30, 2025, 02:34h.
Last updated on: October 30, 2025, 03:15h.
- Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups were both placed on leave by the NBA in connection with their participation in allegedly rigged poker games
- Garnett, who was mentioned in reporting about the poker games, is under investigation by the FBI
According to investigative journalist Pablo Torre, a number of pro athletes, including former NBA star Kevin Garnett, played in private poker games organized by those indicated by the FBI last week.
The FBI last week dropped the hammer with the arrests of 34 people allegedly involved in rigged poker games involving technology like X-ray poker tables that could read cards, rigged shuffling machines, and glasses that read marked cards. The years-long investigation into the illegal activity involved tens of millions of dollars in fraud, FBI Director Kash Patel has said.
NBA celebrities like Chauncey Billups, coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, were allegedly used to lure in players who liked the idea of sitting down to play cards with sports celebrities. Billups’ lawyers have denied any wrongdoing by their client.
The FBI indictment said the rigged poker games also involved members of Italian-American crime families, who were called on in part to enforce the payment of debts.
Gates Denies Reporting
Garnett wasn’t named in any FBI indictments, but former NBA player Damon Jones was.
Los Angeles Clippers Head Coach Ty Lue, meanwhile, was mentioned in Torre’s reporting as having allegedly been involved in a rigged poker game in Las Vegas in 2019. Torre reported that, according to his sources, Lue wasn’t playing at the same table as Billups. Lue wasn’t named in any indictments.
On the NFL side, Hall of Fame tight end Antonio Gates was allegedly involved in a rigged Miami poker game, Torre reported.
Gates’ spokesperson issued a statement denying that reporting, reminding people that he hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.
Federal authorities said those rigged poker games began as early as 2019.
Mob Involvement
The second part of the FBI indictment involves current Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, arrested by the FBI last week for his alleged involvement in a sports betting scandal. In March 2023, when he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets, authorities allege that Rozier passed on information that he was going to take himself out of a Hornets game on March 23.
Rozier then purposely pulled himself out just 10 minutes into the match so that bettors could cash in on $260K worth of prop bets, the FBI says.
Rozier was said to have passed that information to a co-defendant in the federal indictment, who then sold that information to gamblers.
Legal sportsbooks flagged the unusual activity on that night and halted betting on Rozier prop betting. A week after the game, the defendants were said to have counted the money received from wagering on the game at Rozier’s Philadelphia home.
According to ESPN, neither Rozier nor Billups will be paid during their leave of absence from the NBA.
Rozier is in the last year of a four-year contract that is paying him US$26.6 million this season. That money will be held in escrow. If he’s cleared and allowed to return to the Heat, he will be paid back in full. Last season with the Heat, Rozier averaged 10.6 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists while averaging 25.9 minutes per night.
Billups is paid $7 million to coach the Trail Blazers, but according to ESPN, he’ll lose that money until the outcome of the FBI case.
Silver: Rozier Cooperated
ESPN has also reported that Rozier was facing a tax lien from the IRS of $8 million during the time of the suspicious betting activity.
“Because bets were placed through legalized betting companies, they picked up aberrational behaviour around a particular game in March 2023,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said to NBA TV last week. “That was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting companies. We then looked into that situation … very transparent about it.”
Silver said that while there was “aberrational betting,” the league couldn’t find any actual wrongdoing, and that Rozier cooperated with their investigation at the time.
Rozier’s lawyer has issued a statement saying his client isn’t a gambler.
Rozier’s Salary Withheld
“We ultimately concluded there was insufficient evidence despite that aberrational information. We then worked directly with law enforcement,” Silver said, adding that the federal government has subpoena power and can threaten jail time, which are things the league cannot do.
We’ve been working with them since then,” Silver said, adding that while Rozier hasn’t been convicted of any crimes, “obviously, it doesn’t look good.”
The FBI investigation remains ongoing.
In a related matter, former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges last year and who has already been banned by the NBA for betting on games he played in, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced in December.
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