An independent law firm hired by the NBA has requested records from individuals and teams as part of the league’s investigation into the illegal gambling allegations laid out in a federal indictment that resulted in the arrests of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former player and coach Damon Jones, an NBA spokesperson confirmed to ESPN.
The investigation’s latest steps were first reported Saturday by The Athletic.
«The NBA engaged an independent law firm to investigate the allegations in the indictment once it was made public,» a league spokesperson told ESPN and other outlets in a statement. «As is standard in these kinds of investigations, a number of different individuals and organizations were asked to preserve documents and records. Everyone has been fully cooperative.»
Multiple teams have been contacted by the investigators, including the Los Angeles Lakers, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Lakers assistant trainer Mike Mancias and executive administrator Randy Mims are among approximately a dozen team employees who have been contacted and are cooperating with the investigation, sources said. The Athletic reported that Mancias and Mims voluntarily gave their cellphones to investigators.
Mancias, Mims and Jones have long relationships with LeBron James, who is not named in the indictment and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Federal prosecutors accused Jones of selling non-public injury information about Lakers players to gamblers during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, claiming in one case that he got the details from a team trainer.
Prosecutors described Jones as an unofficial assistant coach for the Lakers during the 2022-23 season in the indictment. The following season, prosecutors allege that Jones claimed to have learned from a team trainer that a key player for the Lakers was injured and would likely be limited in a Jan. 15, 2024, game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
According to the indictment, Jones relayed the information to co-defendant Eric Earnest, who gave the details to co-defendant Marves Fairley, a known bettor. Fairley placed a bet of approximately $100,000 against the Lakers, according to the indictment. The Lakers player ended up playing his normal minutes, and Los Angeles won. Fairley, through Earnest, asked Jones to refund the $2,500 he had paid for the injury information, according to the indictment.
Jones pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and money-laundering charges last week in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
Rozier is alleged to have given co-defendant Deniro Laster, a childhood friend, advance notice that he planned to leave a March 23, 2023, game between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans in the first quarter. Rozier, who was with the Hornets at the time, was not listed on the team’s injury report for the game. Laster, prosecutors allege, sold the information to Fairley and another unnamed co-conspirator for approximately $100,000.
According to the indictment, bettors, armed with the information, placed over $263,000 in bets on the under on Rozier’s statistics. Rozier left the game, citing a foot injury, after playing just over nine minutes.
Rozier is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 8 in Brooklyn. An attorney for Rozier has said his client is innocent.
Congressional committees in the House and Senate sent letters to the NBA asking about the league’s policies and relationships with sportsbooks, after 34 people were arrested, including Rozier, Jones and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups on Oct. 23, in a pair of gambling indictments.
Billups was charged in an indictment centered on alleged rigged poker games. He was not named in the indictment centered on sports betting.
However, an unnamed co-conspirator with a career timeline closely matching Billups’ was accused of sharing non-public information with a bettor about the Trail Blazers’ plan to not play a number of players in a March 24, 2023, game against the Chicago Bulls.
