SAN FRANCISCO — The betting allegations surrounding Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups continue to hover over the NBA and likely will for a while. The FBI’s investigation sent shockwaves through the sports world and forced players and coaches to face questions about how gambling continues to impact the game in a variety of ways, especially now that the NBA and other professional sports leagues have partnered with various gambling companies.
“I think the biggest thing is that our players face a lot of wrath (from) fans,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets. “I’ve talked to our guys; our guys get nasty social media posts from people who have bet on games. That’s the thing that I don’t like about this the most. Our players should not have to deal with that, but they do. They probably would anyway, even if we didn’t have a partnership with these companies.
“So it’s just kind of the modern life: social media, everyone having access to everyone else. It’s rough. I feel bad for our guys. I’ve gotten some emails in the past from people I don’t know, saying, ‘Hey, thanks a lot. I had money on the game tonight, and you screwed up by subbing so and so in,’ or something like that. I’ve gotten those, too. It’s weird. It’s really weird.”
While discussing whether the organization has any safeguards in place to try to prevent any issues like this from popping up again, Kerr noted that the organization’s legal counsel spoke to the team earlier this week. Nuggets coach David Adelman and Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said their teams recently received a similar presentation.
“Every team in the league does this,” Kerr said. “Goes through bulletin points of everything that is not allowed in this issue. So our players are well aware, all players are well aware, of what they’re allowed to do, what they’re not allowed to do.”
Carlisle, the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, said he contacted Billups to “see how he was doing” after the Portland Trail Blazers’ head coach was arrested as part of multiple federal investigations into illegal gambling. Billups “did not answer,” according to Carlisle.
“The coaches association, we support all of our coaches,” Carlisle said before Thursday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. “So I reached out to him and his representatives, and I’ll leave it at that.”
As the league continues to evaluate what steps to take in the wake of these allegations, the Nuggets have a unique connection to the case, given that Billups’ younger brother, Rodney, is a coach for the team. Rodney Billups served on his brother Chauncey’s staff from 2022 to 2024 with the Blazers. Adelman was asked before the game how the Nuggets are handling whether Rodney needs to step away from the organization as his brother deals with the case.
“That’s between me and Rodney,” Adelman said. “And whatever Rodney needs for his family is all I care about. The situation itself, I only know what I read. You guys know what I know. So you know what it is when your family member is affected by something; you have to support that person. Rodney’s been nothing but great for us since he’s been here, so obviously, it’s a situation that’s in flux. I don’t know where it’s going.”
Many in the league are wondering the same thing. Kerr reiterated that each team has been made aware of what is not allowed.
“I feel very comfortable sharing details of these meetings,” Kerr said. “Because the league is very adamant about this stuff. Every team has to listen closely and hear everything, and a big part of that meeting was, ‘(If) you tell one of your friends that so and so is not playing, and then that person tells somebody else, you are liable.’ We know this, and the league has kept us informed and up to date on all this stuff year after year, and so it is what it is.”
Like Kerr, Adelman was asked if anything can be done to prevent a situation like this from happening again.
“I think education trumps everything,” Adelman said. “You just have to keep doing the best job you can. It’s new. It’s like anything else when the world changes; there’s gonna be hiccups, and people get themselves into tough situations.
“It’s such a part of our culture now and community; it’s not going anywhere. It’s like anything — you have to bring it up maybe more, have more meetings about it, mention it more throughout the year, because you care about your players, you care about your staff. You just don’t want to see them get in a tough situation. Because once you’re in that situation, especially something like this, it’s hard to get out of it. So I think it’s support and education, and then you go from there.”
Warriors veteran center Al Horford echoed Kerr’s sentiments Thursday morning, saying he has seen a change in how fans interact with players as betting advertisements continue to permeate everyday culture.
“It’s much different,” Horford said. “It looks aggressive at times. And I understand that we are professional athletes and this is the world we’re in and everything. But I think that the league itself has to step in and probably do more to protect the players and to be better. All this comes with it. It’s the fan engagement, but also there’s that other part.
“It’s a very interesting time because it’s the first time that, as a league and as a society, we’re all living and going through this. So there’s a lot of things that I’m sure will be worked out and that will be better, but that kind of comes with the territory, and it’s something that you just have to deal with.”
