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On just the third day of the 2025-26 NBA season, the association was hit with disturbing news as three of its figures were arrested for alleged roles in alleged illegal gambling.
Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones were indicted on charges related to illegal poker games, while Jones and Terry Rozier were arrested for their alleged involvement in sports betting.
Rozier was a member of the Miami Heat when he was first investigated by both the NBA and the FBI. He missed most of the second half of last season and was supposed to play for Miami this year, but was arrested the morning after the team’s first game, in which he did not play.
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Miami Heat forward Kevin Love reacts after guard Terry Rozier scores in the second half against the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center. (Scott Wachter/Imagn Images)
Kevin Love was in the Heat locker room when they got word of Rozier’s investigation. He has since been traded to the Utah Jazz, but the controversy still lingers throughout the league.
“It’s very complex. I mean, there’s so many things that are unanswered and you take the NBA at its word. They do their due diligence and they had looked into Terry’s situation and came back and it was kind of just left where it was. Terry was able to come back and play and then he went through training camp and now all of this is coming out because it’s a big part of sports. of sports culture now,” Love said in a recent interview with Pakinomist Digital.
“And the gambling thing, I think, is such a stain on our game. And I think you find yourself betting, punting, fixing, and you go down into a really dark room in a dark area. So to be able to move past that, I can’t imagine what it’s like for the Blazers, right? And I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to react to that like we’re creating in Miami yet. know what’s right, right? This has to keep playing itself and we’re seeing it across different sports now, but I think for the sake of the NBA and the greater sports fraternity that it will be resolved in a way that we can move forward and we can have a healthier relationship with all of this sports betting.
“I don’t know what the answer is with all of this, but at the league office, Adam [Silver] is really smart. There will be a way to resolve this in a way that is positive. I’m a supporter of that.”
Utah Jazz forward Kevin Love (42) handles the ball against Charlotte Hornets forward Moussa Diabate (14) during the first quarter at Spectrum Center. (Jim Dedmon/Imagn Images)
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Love has been in the league long before player props existed. But as gambling has become more widespread, he’s heard far more outrage from fans in arenas and seen more of it online.
“You see it all the time now, if somebody bets on you and you don’t score, or you go out of a game, or you don’t get as many rebounds in the overflow, it becomes something that can be really ugly. You see it in your messages or your DMs. When there’s money involved, things get messy…” Love said. “It’s so lucrative and there’s so much money to be made that, like, I get it from a business standpoint, but I think there’s a dark side to this and there’s a negative side to this that I think people need to know and it needs to be a little bit more transparent and out in the open so maybe we can start to have a more healthy relationship with it.
“But then again, sports betting and sports betting and all that has been around forever. But now it’s just a click of a button away, right? I have friends who do and have a healthy relationship with it, and then others who don’t. I guess that’s an area I’m not super well-versed in.”
Hindsight is 20/20, but it probably should have been obvious that increased fan excitement would follow. Even Love admitted he “didn’t consider” how much fan behavior might change.
Kevin Love of the Utah Jazz looks on during the first half of a basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center on November 2, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (David Jensen/Getty Images)
“I said, ‘OK, this is new,” he admitted. “I think gambling at its core, people go to Vegas and they built these huge casinos and resorts with people losing their money. It is very intricate, very layered, very complex space. I’m sure it was considered, but when it’s this lucrative and there’s so much money to be made, business, you’ve got to do it. I hope there’s a better way forward and I hope it’s mostly healthy and just the negatives outweigh the positives and just make for sexier headlines. But I definitely think the negative leaves a big stain.”
