In the NBA, multiple former Minnesota Timberwolves are caught up in the latest and juiciest betting scandal currently in the news.

After coaching against the team he used to play for on opening night of the season, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Hall of Fame point guard Chauncey Billups was arrested on charges involving the mob, rigged poker games and devices straight out of the next 007 film.

Chauncey Billups denies illegal betting allegations

Plenty has come out about his participation in illegal card games, some details of which have even involved Kevin Garnett. While we all have the right to our innocence until proven guilty, the outlook for Billups recently is not good.

Billups, who played for the MN Timberwolves for two seasons, from 2000 to 2002, will obviously have his day in court. And at least for now, the disgraced Blazers coach is sticking to his innocence, claiming he is NOT a Mob plant.

Portland Trail Blazers coach and basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges he profited from rigged poker games involving several Mafia figures and at least one other former NBA player.

The five-time All-Star, who won a championship with the Detroit Pistons, was arraigned in a federal court in New York City on money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy charges, both of which carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison. Some of Billups’ co-defendants are also charged with running an illegal gambling business and engaging in an extortion conspiracy.

At a bond hearing later Monday morning, the judge released Billups on a $5 million dollar bond. The NBA Hall of Famer used his home in Colorado as collateral and his daughter Sydney, the Manager of Team and Player Services for the Minnesota Timberwolves, co-signed his bond.

ESPN

Former Minnesota Timberwolves guard up against it…

While rigging prop bets is also part of the problem, Billups’ involvement was tied to rigged poker games.

The ESPN report states that, “he served as a celebrity “face card” who could draw wealthy, unsuspecting players to the games. Prosecutors said during one game, the scheme’s organizers exchanged messages saying one of the victims “acted like he wanted Chauncey to have his money” because he was “starstruck.”

For a guy that earned more than $106 million during his playing career, it seems wild to get involved in such risky business. There is a possibility that Billups has different liabilities surrounding him, or simply believed in being too big to fail.

At any rate, this saga is far from over. It’s likely more names will come out that send shockwaves through the sports world. For now at least, Billups is trying to distance himself from blame.

Arguably the most notable NBA name involved is former Minnesota Timberwolves point guard, Chauncey Billups, whose Portland Trail Blazers lost their season opener Wednesday night against… you guessed it, the Wolves, where he played from 2000-2002.

Shortly after, the fifth-year Blazers head coach was arrested by the FBI on illegal gambling charges that are straight out of a futuristic Mafia movie, involving X-Ray glasses/contacts, celebrity scams and elaborate schemes to scam unknowing victims out of their money via underground rigged poker games.

Gambling scandal adds Kevin Garnett’s name to circus

But on Friday, Journalist Pablo Torre — who was all over the gambling scandal involving former MN Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley during the offseason — reports that Chauncey Billups and his Mafia buddies may have also reeled the greatest Wolves player of all time (for now), Kevin Garnett, with his scheme.

While Torre’s report doesn’t go that far, it does indeed say that KG was present during at least one of these phony poker events held by Billups and others indicted by what authorities have dubbed “Operation Royal Flush”, along with alleged cohort Damon Jones, presently an assistant in Cleveland.

🚨 UPDATE: A number of former pro athletes played at private poker games organized by those indicted by the DOJ in “Operation Royal Flush.”

One of them — according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of a game that took place in 2019 — was Kevin Garnett. @pablofindsout https://t.co/9UEijIez8R

— Pablo Torre 👀 (@PabloTorre) October 24, 2025

Billups and Jones — who were known as “face cards” in the scheme — allegedly used their celebrity to lure victims into playing high-stakes poker games that were actually rigged, according to the indictment. “Cheating teams” set up an elaborate scheme involving technology that would alert the co-conspirator players to the cards on the table, allowing them to get an edge on the victims. The organizers allegedly used X-ray tables, glasses that enabled the showing of marked cards and technology that allowed a remote member of the team to let others know the cards in play, according to the indictment.

Doug Greenberg – ESPN

MN Timberwolves legend a victim or suspect?

Based on Torre’s tweet, it sounds like Garnett may have been a victim of Billups’ scheme, where he essentially had his money unknowingly stolen. It’s also possible KG knowingly participated in the operation, using his celebrity to help lure victims in.

Either way we’ll likely find out on the next episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out. In total, 30 people have been arrested by the FBI, as part of their investigation, which spans beyond whatever poker scams Billups and Jones were allegedly operating.

Related: MN Timberwolves Have a New Starting Point Guard

NBA wing Terry Rozier was also arrested in relation to the FBI’s “operation “Operation Royal Flush” though he is being accused of fixing personal stat lines to pay off bets, not these poker games

Before he landed the Blazers head job (2021-22), Billups spent one season as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers (2020-21). And before that, he spent 17 NBA seasons between 1997 and 2014 as a Hall of Fame (2024 class) point guard.

Billups was drafted with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, out of the University of Colorado. He played 17 seasons in the league for seven different teams, one of which was the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he spent two seasons from 2000-2002.

But while Chauncey Billups’ time spent in the Twin Cities as a player was short-lived, it wasn’t nearly as brief as his time as head coach of the 2025-26 Portland Trail Blazers, which as of now, feels like it will end after just one game

Chauncey Billups arrested for illegal poker operation w/Mafia ties

At some point between the end of last night’s season opener between the Wolves and Blazers, and 7:28 a.m. CDT Thursday morning, Billups was arrested by the FBI for his alleged involvement in an illegal gambling operation that reportedly has Mafia ties (Shams – ESPN).

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was also arrested, in a separate but related illegal gambling bust that included a total of 30 people, FBI Director Kash Patel announced this morning, in conjunction with the Billups arrest.

Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups has been arrested by the FBI for alleged illegal gambling, sources tell ESPN.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 23, 2025

Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday as part of a pair of investigations related to illegal gambling, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Rozier was arrested Thursday morning at a hotel in Orlando, Florida. The Heat lost their season opener to the Magic on Wednesday, when Rozier did not play due to a coach’s decision.

Billups’ arrest in Oregon was made as part of a separate but related illegal gambling case linked to an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia, according to an ABC News report. Billups is expected to make an initial court appearance later Thursday.

Shams Charania – ESPN

Related: MN Timberwolves Have a New Starting Point Guard

This is a huge deal, and the NBA is clearly treating it as such. Unlike Rozier, it does not appear Billups was arrested for fixing or cheating NBA games he was physically involved in. The charges specifically mention rigging and cheating in poker games. So, we will have to wait for more information before knowing exactly what happened.

Chauncey Billups has a brutal 117-212 (.356) record as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Only half-joking, you have to wonder if he and the Mafia are holding a gambling debt over the Blazers’ owner, because that’s not a record conducive to a five-year tenure as an NBA team’s head coach.

FBI Director Kash Patel has announced the takedown of a massive illegal gambling ring involving coordination between NBA players, coaches, and several mafia crime families.

The operation stretched across 11 states and spanned several years, resulting in more than 30 arrests so… pic.twitter.com/9haLOUkX77

— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) October 23, 2025

Chauncey Billups the NBA (Minnesota Timberwolves) Player

As a player, Billups averaged 15.2 points, 5.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game, also earning 2x All-NBA Defense. Those numbers, along with 5 All-Star appearances, 3 All-NBA Teams, an NBA Finals win and NBA Finals MVP earned Billups a Hall of Fame induction last year… though that may not stick anymore either.

In the two seasons Chauncey Billups played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, he averaged 10.9 points, 4.5 assists and 2.4 rebounds, over 159 games.

February 27, 2002: Kevin Garnett had 33 PTS/15 REB and Chauncey Billups had 30 PTS/11 AST in the Timberwolves’ 112-101 win over the Lakers.

Billups made seven of his eight 3-point shots. Shaquille O’Neal had 27 PTS and Kobe Bryant added 20 PTS for Los Angeles.

📺CNN World Sport pic.twitter.com/oyiNryXOYO

— NBA Cobwebs (@NBACobwebs) February 27, 2024

He and Kevin Garnett played in seven playoff games together, getting bounced in the first round of the 2001 and 2002 playoffs, before he left for Detroit as a free agent, where he won his only NBA title two years later (2003-04).

Well, this little bit of news seems to have leaked a little early for a Friday, when news usually drops right as everyone is getting out of work for the week and on their way to “I don’t care” land. But just like has been the case since the online publication came into existence, The Athletic was on its game, no matter what day of the week it is.

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Chauncey Billups and the Minnesota Timberwolves will meet in near future to discuss the franchise's President of Basketball Operations role, league sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 19, 2019

Minnesota has been finalizing interview dates with candidates, including Billups, Nuggets assistant GM Calvin Booth, Clippers GM Michael Winger and Rockets VP Gersson Rosas, sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski. https://t.co/F5Z6qZcSvY

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 19, 2019

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That first tweet was a lot more tantalizing than the second one. That’s probably why he did it that way. However, although Shams’ second tweet makes it seem like Billups is just another name that made a short list of possible future TWolves PoBO’s, it looks like Shams isn’t the only one singling Billups out of the crowd.

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And to reiterate what I have discussed previously: Billups is very interested. #Twolves https://t.co/zvKRm4pTZf

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) April 19, 2019

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Darren is as much in “the know” as anyone in town and obviously we all know how plugged in The Athletic and their writers are. It looks like both Billups and Taylor are equally interested in each other. Add in how loved he is around the entire NBA and his name popping in local circles too, I think this one might be called by now, if it were a presidential race…

If Billups can lead the Timberwolves out of their dysfunction then that’s exactly what he would qualify for.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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