Adam Silver hit the US Senate after Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups were arrested

What a great first week of the 2025-26 NBA season, Commissioner Adam Silver and the league office was dealing with a dark cloud that overshadowed everything.

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers Chauncey Billups were among about 30 people arrested Thursday by the FBI as part of ongoing investigations separate but related cases of illegal gambling and illegal poker games.

Both Rozier and Billups are set league administrative leave, and there is currently no timetable for when they could potentially return, or if they will ever return to the NBA.

Silver and the NBA office take this matter seriously, as they have fully cooperated with law enforcement as these investigations continue to address the corruption that has existed in illegal gambling activities over the past several years.

While the FBI’s investigations continue, the NBA is now US Senate hearing.

Many cabinet members now want more information about exactly what happened with Rozier, Billups and the NBA, as a United States Senate committee sent a letter to Silver and the league office on Monday claiming the federal indictments are a matter of “congressional concern,” according to ESPN’s David Purdum.

That committee, led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, is asking Silver and the NBA to provide documents outlining the league’s gambling policies and a list of betting-related investigations.

“The integrity of NBA games must be reliable and free from the influence of organized crime or gambling-related activities,” the committee’s letter stated, via ESPN. “Sports betting scandals like this one can lead the American public to assume that all sports are corrupt.”

It’s worth noting that this is the second letter the NBA has received from a congressional committee.

Adam Silver ‘deeply disturbed’ by Rozier, Billups arrested

Rozier has been accused of a betting scandal that can be compared to an insider trading scandal involving stock market manipulation. In Rozier’s case, evidence indicates that he told certain members of the betting circle that he would leave the game early in 2023 while playing for the Charlotte Hornets.

As a result, several individuals placed high “under” bets on Rozier’s bets at multiple sportsbooks, knowing he would leave the game early due to undisclosed inside information.

On March 23, 2023, the day Rozier left the game with the alleged “injury,” the defendants are said to have placed more than $200,000 in unders for his bets. After nine minutes of play, Rozier exited and did not return, causing these bets to be counted and paid out as winning bets.

Billups was charged in a separate indictment alleging a broad scheme to rig underground poker games supported by mob families. In these games, Billups and other sports figures are said to have been used to lure targets into playing rigged poker games, where altered shufflers, X-ray tables and other devices were used to fix games and defraud millions of dollars.

It was silver asked about the FBI investigation at Madison Square Garden for Friday’s Celtics-Knicks game, pointing out how problematic this is for everyone.

“My first reaction was that I was deeply disturbed. There is nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition,” Silver told the NBA on Prime’s Cassidy Hubbarth. “I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”

When asked if Rozier was allowed to continue playing after the NBA’s investigation found no wrongdoing in 2024, Silver confirmed that the league has taken every step to ensure their investigation continues throughout. In the end, the NBA concluded there was no “outlier” in what they found, but they also continued to work with law enforcement investigating the matter.

The NBA continues to cooperate with law enforcement and the FBI following the recent arrests of Rozier and Billups on Thursday.