NEED TO KNOW
- Shaq is talking out in regards to the arrests of Portland Path Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier and former NBA participant and coach Damon Jones
- The Contained in the NBA star stated he was “ashamed that these guys would put their households and their careers in jeopardy”
- Shaq stated he knew Billups and Jones “very properly,” and that he as soon as performed with Jones, an NBA journeyman who was within the league for 11 seasons
Shaquille O’Neal is talking out following the arrests of NBA head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier and former NBA participant and coach Damon Jones — and he says he’s “ashamed” of what they’ve allegedly executed.
Whereas on ESPN’s Contained in the NBA on Thursday, Oct. 23, the retired NBA nice, 53, didn’t maintain again in regards to the stunning arrests of the trio, who had been amongst 31 defendants indicted in a large sports activities playing and betting ring with ties to the Mafia.
“Everyone knows the letter of the legislation in the case of playing and sports activities playing and I don’t wish to sit up right here like I’m some excellent man,” O’Neal stated informed host Ernie Johnson and analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. “Once in a while, once I go to Vegas, I’ll play some craps and I’ll play some roulette however I by no means gambled at anybody’s home. Don’t know something about poker.”
O’Neal continued that he knew Billups and Jones — the latter of whom he performed with — “very” properly, and that he’s “ashamed that these guys would put their households and their careers in jeopardy.”
“There’s an outdated saying within the ‘hood: ‘All cash ain’t good cash,’ ” the previous Los Angeles Lakers star stated. “So if you happen to’re making $9 million … like, how way more do you want? Particularly if you recognize you get caught, you possibly can do jail time, lose your profession, put a foul picture on your self, your loved ones or on the NBA.”
O’Neal concluded: “They dropped the ball.”
Billups, 49, was arrested early Thursday, hours after his staff, the Portland Path Blazers, took on the Minnesota Timberwolves within the season-opener. Rozier, a reserve guard on the Warmth, was arrested at his resort in Orlando, the place he was on the town for the season-opener towards the Magic.
The indictments towards 31 defendants in two main circumstances, introduced on Thursday morning, contain fraud, U.S. legal professional for the Jap District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. stated.
“One includes sports activities betting and the opposite includes unlawful playing,” Nocella Jr. stated. “The primary indictment includes six defendants who’re alleged to have participated, one of the brazen sports activities corruption schemes since on-line sports activities betting turned broadly legalized in the USA. This scheme is an insider sports activities betting conspiracy that exploited confidential details about Nationwide Basketball Affiliation athletes and groups.”
Jones, 49, and Rozier, 31, had been indicted for alleged expenses associated to sports activities betting, whereas Billups and Jones had been alleged to have participated in “a nationwide scheme to rig unlawful poker video games,” Nocella Jr. stated.
Defendants “used high-tech dishonest expertise to steal hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from victims in underground poker video games that had been secretly mounted,” and the video games had been backed by a minimum of three New York Mafia households, he claimed.
In the meantime, the Path Blazers are set to play for the primary time since Billups’ arrest on Friday evening towards the Golden State Warriors. Assistant coach Tiago Splitter has been named interim coach.
League officers suspended Billups and Rozier, a reserve guard not within the Warmth’s rotation, late on Thursday.
