After multiple NBA players and coaches were among 30 people arrested in connection with rigged sports betting and poker games, court documents revealed that one former coach one sold information on league superstar LeBron James’ injuries and used the information to place bets.Damon Jones, a former Cleveland Cavaliers player and “unofficial assistant coach” for the Los Angeles Lakers, sent a message to one of the betting ring members on February 9, 2023, urging him to place a large bet on the Lakers’ opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks.
He stressed that a star player would be out with an injury that night based on information he was privy to, a source familiar with the matter told the New York Post.
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“Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out!,” Jones wrote in the text, according to the indictment. The player, whom was identified as James, ultimately did not play in that game, which the Lakers lost, due to a lower back injury.
Jones is a longtime friend of James’ who played with him on the Cavaliers early in the superstar’s career.
Jones during his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers
Jones was also allegedly paid $2,500 for sharing information on a supposed injury tip — which turned out to be bogus — about another Lakers star ahead of a January 13, 2024 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Court papers note that Jones claimed to have heard from the Lakers’ trainer that “one of the Lakers’ best players during the 2023-2024 season” was nursing an injury would only play a limited amount of minutes that night. Jones told co-defendant Eric “Spook” Earnest, who then relayed the information to Marves Fairley, who touted himself online as a successful sports better who used the moniker “Vezino Locks,” court papers say.
The player referenced in that incident was not named, though then-Lakers star center Anthony Davis led the team in scoring that night with 27 points. Fairley then confronted Jones over the bogus tip and demanded a refund for the $2,500, but Jones insisted that he had still received “credible non-public information” regarding the unnamed player that day. It is unclear whether Jones ever recovered the money.
On Thursday October 23, federal authorities in Brooklyn unsealed indictments against 31 individuals, including current and former NBA figures, in a sprawling gambling probe involving two interconnected schemes: an insider sports-betting conspiracy that used nonpublic NBA information to place fraudulent prop bets on at least seven games between 2023 and 2024, and a Mafia-backed operation rigging high-stakes underground poker games that defrauded victims of over $7 million nationwide.
The betting ring, described by FBI Director Kash Patel as the “insider trading scandal for the NBA,” relied on players and insiders tipping off accomplices about injuries or early exits to cash in on “under” wagers via proxies, netting hundreds of thousands in illicit profits.
Among the biggest names implicated are Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and Jones, all of whom were arrested Thursday. All 31 defendants face charges including wire fraud, money laundering, and extortion, with over 30 arrests executed by the FBI and NYPD’s Organized Crime Task Force.
