This league might not be clean..

[Taskford]

“Once you enter into a deal with the mafia, it’s hard to get out” – Ex-NBA player on the Chauncey Billups/Terry Rozier gambling scandal
Chauncey and Terry have found themselves in some scary waters.

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/ex-nba-player-on-the-chauncey-billups-terry-rozier-gambling-scandal

See this… it can even be linked to fixed sports betting. These people are already influential, but they still chose to work with the mafia. It’s crazy that this kind of thing hasn’t really been talked about considering how much it should impact the NBA’s reputation. And honestly, I feel like they’re not the only ones doing it, there’s probably more inside that just hasn’t been exposed yet.

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

This situation happened to them is a great reminder that they should never participate in any illegal deals since it may cost a lot to them.

That case of Rozier and Billups is good to look forward that they provably messed up so bad especially if they try to cheat, participate on illegal gambling and do fix matching. This shake out the whole NBA and for sure that many players are now so careful dealing on activities they are participating.

I think that game fixing has been slowly eliminated especially now that there's another big names has been put in jail. For sure those who plan will do it again might get scare to experience the same faith with them. Its a big shame for their name and family if they find out that they are doing such illegal actions.

[Hispo]

I believe criminal groups are so widespread around the world and so influential, that it is just a matter of statistics before one realizes there could be some level of match fixing within all kind of leagues in which professional players get involved. Though, some leagues are way harder to fix when compared to others, small and regional leagues are obviously easier to corrupt. However, since we are talking about the NBA, one cannot help but to wonder how many players in this association are already working with criminals, all for the sake of money.

Also, obviously the mafia would not just corrupt player to quit whenever they want, they would blackmail them in order to force them to continue to fix matches.

[Yaunfitda]

“Once you enter into a deal with the mafia, it’s hard to get out” – Ex-NBA player on the Chauncey Billups/Terry Rozier gambling scandal
Chauncey and Terry have found themselves in some scary waters.

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/ex-nba-player-on-the-chauncey-billups-terry-rozier-gambling-scandal

I don't think that it's the league itself, it's those players who have been offered by the mafia and can't refused. And it could be that they are really into gambling that's why they are a willing participants here. So I doubt that it's the NBA itself, this is a huge organization, they have the commissioner and the referee and the players organization that are into it. This is just only few players that can't contain themselves to gamble. And I don't think that the commissioner is willing to make his league be the playing grounds for this mafia and take advantage of the players. They will meted punishment so that others would do that in the future.

[passwordnow]

If what he is saying is true, then we might have now an idea on why there are odd calls and fouls done by the referees and also with the plays that's done by potential part of their mafia. And that's why the story about Michael Jordan's game and the call from the mafia about him letting go of the game or something's wrong gonna happen with a member of his family. Well, they've chosen to enter into the ring and if Chauncey is saying that it's hard to get out of it, don't enter with them in the first place so that you'll have no headache about them being pressured.

[hyudien]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

Of course, nothing is completely clean. Mafia always exist, even in the major leagues, but perhaps not as much as at the lower levels. I mean, the tendency to manipulate matches in the major leagues is much smaller, and it's still safe to bet there. What I can't understand is why these professional players are involved, given that it's not difficult for them to make a lot of money as players. Could it be due to greed?

[danherbias07]

I do believe that there are things happening underhandedly, but I don't believe that the league is a part of it. Not entirely fixed games. It can be the players who are talked to, maybe an underground group, but I highly doubt it's the commissioner who is in discussions with them.

I mean, they won't let Billups and Terry be in this position if they are a part of it. They could simply hide it. But this year, more players are being accused of cheating or gambling, and I think that is proof that they are making steps to keep the sport clean.

[Darker45]

Not clean in the sense that it isn't spotless. But it can't be generalized as dirty, either. There must be games that are played according to top secret instructions, but the instructions are probably given only to a few members of a team, not to the league itself. The league is worth more than a hundred billion. It has a brand recognized all over the world. It can't just throw away its reputation for some dirty deals. But, yeah, I doubt it's immaculate, just like other sports leagues.

[Slow death]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

The NBA is a big league, there's a lot of money involved and many contracts involved, I highly doubt there's any match-fixing. Those players take the games seriously. Maybe some players might place bets secretly, but it wouldn't affect the outcome of the game. Fixed games are only possible in smaller leagues with little budget; in that scenario, it's possible to convince some players to participate in physical games, but in leagues like the NBA, it's impossible to have fixed or manipulated games.

[Vaculin]

It doesn’t really matter if it’s clean or not. At the end of the day, what we’re after is that the bookies pay us when we win, and when we deposit, the funds show up right away. There have always been rumors that even major leagues aren’t free from manipulation, so this news isn’t surprising at all.

What actually surprised me is the people involved. I didn’t expect they’d have that big of a role or be connected with the mafia like that.

I guess that’s how it should be… but still, these players basically wasted their careers just because of greed. I’m not even talking about the bettors’ side here, we can still bet even if a game is rigged, we just have to find the right side anyway.

But man… Billups. He was my idol in Detroit. I liked that team before, they were so defensive and they beat the Lakers and the Spurs if I remember right. And now… kinda sad seeing his name involved in stuff like this..

[Africolo]

“Once you enter into a deal with the mafia, it’s hard to get out” – Ex-NBA player on the Chauncey Billups/Terry Rozier gambling scandal
Chauncey and Terry have found themselves in some scary waters.

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/ex-nba-player-on-the-chauncey-billups-terry-rozier-gambling-scandal

See this… it can even be linked to fixed sports betting. These people are already influential, but they still chose to work with the mafia. It’s crazy that this kind of thing hasn’t really been talked about considering how much it should impact the NBA’s reputation. And honestly, I feel like they’re not the only ones doing it, there’s probably more inside that just hasn’t been exposed yet.

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

I have been hearing about match fixing and I don't really believe that they can really be a fixed match between two teams that came out to play and secure points for their teams. Come to think of it!  How do they fix a match between two teams?, because when both teams play to win, you can see the intensity of the game the zeal and spirit of winning in both teams, imagine it's a premier League and the other team needs three points to win the league, would they allow anyone to influence it for any reason? The answer is no.


There are always corruption everywhere and that also applies in all kinds of sports wether crickets, basketball, tennis, etc. I can be forced to believe that in football they buy the referees over because you will see when a player committed a penalty offense in the 18yard box and they won't blow the whistle for a penalty kick, it often happens in crucial champions League matches, so with that scenario I can believe some matches are been fixed for financial gains from the Mafia.

[Fiatless]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

There is no evidence that the entire US Basketball League is fixed. What we have seen are some bad eggs that have connived with some mafia criminal network to give this prestigious League a bad name. This scandal has shown that there will always be bad actors even in reputable sports leagues. Until they are exposed, bettors will not know the extent of fraud in these leagues. 

[Sticky Bomb]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

I am finding it hard to agree with you that a league is fixed at any point, we know that players, coaches, referee and even at club level there might be compromising outcomes but for the whole league is what I'll not conform to. Every league has some elements of manipulation at lower levels and not league level. Most times clubs or players from smaller leagues manipulate their games when offered huge money from these mafia networks but it's rare on bigger leagues and I'm not trying out that they're existent. The disciplinary measures taken by the leagues and sports body is enough to tell you that there's more discipline at the league level of sports activities.

[Obim34]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

A few players in the league are the baits, whatever sport that is humanly pre determined can be manipulated, it wouldn't take a long list of players to work the changes, there are players that wants to make more at the expense of jeopardizing their reputation. It is not a league problem but individual player, in terms of revenue football is more valued than NBA, what makes it different for greedy NBA players to do the same.

[MainIbem]

I think even though it's not completely clean, at least it's 90%-95% clean and their influence didn't change the result who win the league. So, what we see who became the champion, they really deserve it because it's all of their hard work, not by working together with mafia and the champion was chosen by the mafia.

You can't expect everything would be clean, even working in companies or study in college aren't completely clean.

Yeah that's true moreover the fixed match would be on certain games involving some teams and players or coaches that chose to be greedy and risk their career, well in our world there's good and bad but one thing I'm sure is that the good would always prevail even though the bad exist in all sector. Left for me I dont expect that some folks won't try to cheat and make things easy for themselves but it doesn't mean everything is totally corrupt and even if the winners of the trophies were involved in the scandal they'll also get their own share of punishment if caught.

[YOSHIE]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

It cannot be denied that cheating and match-fixing scandals often occur in sports gambling, although match-fixing scandals are one of the crimes that often involve the gambling mafia, but they often occur.

Have you ever read the Jontay Porter case.

Jontay Porter case (2024): Toronto Raptors two-way player Jontay Porter was banned from the NBA permanently after a league investigation found he leaked confidential information to sports bettors and intentionally underperformed in one or more games for betting purposes.

And the case currently being investigated is the NBA sport.

Current Scandals (October-November 2025): The FBI is investigating a multi-million dollar illegal betting scheme that led to the arrest of more than 30 people, including NBA head coach Chauncey Billups and player Terry Rozier.
The federal indictment alleges that the scheme involved manipulating games to win bets, and in some cases, players intentionally leaving the game to influence the outcome of certain bets. Mafia organizations are also suspected of being involved in running this illegal gambling scheme.

These two cases prove that NBA sports is indeed a hotbed of fraudulent practices by the mafia, for this reason, to be honest, I rarely place bets on NBA sports betting, I feel uncomfortable.

[coin-investor]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

Still, the NBA is fighting to make it clean because so much is at stake if they lose the reputation that they've been protecting for a long time. There will always be bad actors, including top-level, lower-level players, and officials.

It's hard to be specific about game fixing, so every sports organization should monitor every action of players and officials, regardless of whether they are top-level players or officials.

Game fixing is a crusade of the whole sports organizations, and that includes the fans.

[Eternad]

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

A few players in the league are the baits, whatever sport that is humanly pre determined can be manipulated, it wouldn't take a long list of players to work the changes, there are players that wants to make more at the expense of jeopardizing their reputation. It is not a league problem but individual player, in terms of revenue football is more valued than NBA, what makes it different for greedy NBA players to do the same.

Most of the NBA players involved on match fixing either a bench player with low profile career or a retired NBA player. Only few cases that someone involved on this match fixing but later becomes innocent after investigation.

It’s easy for some NBA player to throw their reputation since they knew that they will a hard time to get a spotlight due to competition to other players with exceptional skills.

I believe match fixing is still not that serious case for now but due to popularity of sports betting I believe this might be a big problem in the future.

[suzanne5223]

One thing I have come to learn about this life is that everyone who is not content with what they have can be easily manipulated or forced to do something by someone who knows their weakness or is more powerful than them.
What I will say is that we shouldnt see the issue that happened to a popular figure as something to talk about only; it is something we should all learn from because we will all be somebody some days and if we're not mentally set for what to come, it will be easy for the big fish to manipulate us cause it's cold at the top.

Having said that, no matter how we like gambling, we should always stay away from something that has to do with mafia involvement and match fixing, which is one of the main reasons I don't like physical gambling.
As the Op, the influences in the subject are not the only ones involved in match fixing.

[uchegod-21]

“Once you enter into a deal with the mafia, it’s hard to get out” – Ex-NBA player on the Chauncey Billups/Terry Rozier gambling scandal
Chauncey and Terry have found themselves in some scary waters.

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/ex-nba-player-on-the-chauncey-billups-terry-rozier-gambling-scandal

See this… it can even be linked to fixed sports betting. These people are already influential, but they still chose to work with the mafia. It’s crazy that this kind of thing hasn’t really been talked about considering how much it should impact the NBA’s reputation. And honestly, I feel like they’re not the only ones doing it, there’s probably more inside that just hasn’t been exposed yet.

So don’t remove the possibility that the league can be fixed at some level.

As bad as this is, I don't think it will affect the reputation of the NBA in anyway. This is a personal misconduct issue and I am also glad that the NBA has rules and deserving punishments for those who go against these rules. No one should be shocked by these news, lots of things happen behind the scenes which we do not get to know about. It is only when people like these are exposed that we get to know and they are punished to serve as a deterrent to others. Scandals like this can happen anywhere, and I know that the NBA will handle this issue seriously in order to preserve their reputation.

[Agbamoni]

You know why it may not receive too much attention like that, it was because of being gambling and this is nothing than our personal decision and willingness to choose to gamble, on a neutral ground, we are not expected to make it open, provided we know about what may be at stake, just as we have seen from the NBA' players, any wrong move taken may cause a misrepresentation for the gambler or player involved.

That is not enough reason not to give it much attention. The league itself is not supposed to support corruption; there are rules kept to make everything fair for both the players, viewers, and bettors. You and I know that. So when there is any notice of corruption, it must be investigated and dealt with; everyone involved in it must bear the consequences of their action. This will make other persons who have the intention or plan to do the same thing change for good or be too cautious.