REUTERS/via SNO Sites/Peter Creveling

Oct 16, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups gives instructions to his team during the first half against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Peter Creveling-Imagn Images

Portland Trail Blazers head coach and former NBA all-star Chauncey Billups has been arrested by the FBI for alleged illegal gambling. No further news has yet to come out, but we have seen a trend in illegal sports betting in the NBA in the last few years. It is believed that Billups may have been involved in an illegal poker operation tied to the mafia.

Billups received a multi-year extension before the 2025-2026 NBA season and was expected to be with the team for the following years, but now things look more foggy for the future of Billups and the organization.

In his head coaching career Billups is 117-212 and has not yet reached the playoffs as Portland’s coach. The hiring of Billups was very controversial as he was involved in alleged rape allegations prior to his coaching career.

Illegal gambling in the NBA is not new. Jontay Porter for example was betting on games and player props that he was playing in. This resulted in Porter being banned for life from the NBA. More examples of this is Terry Rozier, who has been investigated and now arrested the same morning as the Billups news, and Malik Beasley, who has been investigated before, Pablo Torre tweeted that “Malik Beasley’s story is not over.”

More news will be coming out over the next few days, but the Chauncy Billups situation is not over yet.