A handful of notable NBA faces found themselves in hot water on Thursday morning.
Following the events of the second day of the new NBA season, news broke from ESPN’s Shams Charania that Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were arrested as a part of a federal gambling investigation.
Of course, that was a storyline that had the whole NBA world buzzing–– including Utah Jazz big man Kevin Love, who had his own reaction to share.
Love made not just one, not two, but three Instagram posts with some jokes involving the news surrounding Rozier and Billups, giving fans a bit of a treat in the midst of the developments:
“Feds pushing up in a full court press got Chauncey and Terry like… 🎰🎰🎰”
“NO (Draft) KINGS!!! ❌👑”
“Live look at the Damon Jones interrogation 🗣️”
According to ESPN’s David Purdum, Billups, Rozier, and former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Damon Jones were all arrested on Thursday linked to illegal sports betting and poker rings with the Mafia.
“Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones have been arrested as part of a pair of wide-ranging investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, authorities announced Thursday,” Purdum reported.
“Rozier, who was arrested Thursday morning at a hotel in Orlando, Florida, is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using insider NBA information. As part of the scheme, gamblers used nonpublic information to bet on at least seven NBA games between March 2023 and March 2024…In three of the seven games, players intentionally removed themselves from contests to benefit the gamblers’ bets, according to the indictment.”
An undoubtably wild situation that gets the new season started off in explosive fashion, and one that Love, had to have his fun with.
It’s far from the first time Love’s trolled a bit on his Instagram account following some big NBA headlines, even dabbling into LeBron James’ latest retirement scare-turned-advertisement, “The Decision 2” before the season began.
Now, he’s back at it again, and instead of poking fun at a LeBron advertisement, it’s a national headline revolving a federal investigation with ties to the Mafia.
It’s safe to say the NBA is officially back.
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