Adam Silver says he is “deeply troubled” by the Billups and Rozier cases

First time since Thursday’s announcement indictments of Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups in two separate cases, Adam Silver spoke publicly. It was on Prime Video, the new NBA broadcaster.

“My first reaction was that I was deeply disturbed », Silver said Friday on the sidelines of the meeting between the Knicks and the Celtics. “There is nothing more important to the league and to the fans than the integrity of the competition. I have knots in my stomach. This is extremely upsetting.”

The league chief then returned to the events that led the NBA to investigate “ abnormal behavior » around the March 23, 2023 game, when Rozier was still playing for Charlotte, against the Pelicans in New Orleans — the game mentioned in the indictment.

The player was already the subject of an internal NBA investigation, which concluded that no rules violations were found, allowing him to continue playing.

“What happened is that bets were placed through legal betting sites, which detected abnormal behavior around this match in March 2023.explains Silver. “The regulators and the bookies warned us. So we opened an investigation and we were completely transparent. Although there were some unusual bets, we honestly couldn’t find anything.”

The FBI can go further in its investigations

Silver said Rozier fully cooperated, agreed to be interviewed and turned over his phone to the league, before the investigation concluded there was insufficient evidence, despite these suspicious signals. “The federal government has powers that we don’t have”he adds. “He can threaten to lock people up, do searches, which the league can’t do. We’ve been working with them ever since.”

In passing, Silver points out that a verdict has not yet been handed down and that Rozier, like Billups, is presumed innocent. “Two and a half years later, Terry still hasn’t been convicted of anything. He obviously doesn’t look good, but he’s been placed on leave. It’s a delicate balance between respecting individual rights and the need for an investigation.”