NBA Launches Sweeping Review of Injury and Betting Policies After Alarming Gambling Scandal

Following the arrests of three NBA personalities during the past week, the NBA has tightened policies on injury reports, and monitoring programs, according to NBA insider Shams Charania of ESPN.

According to the memo Charania obtained, the league informed all 30 teams about the league's intent to review policies to enhance monitoring against betting activities.

"The NBA informed its 30 teams that the league has begun process of reviewing policies regarding injury reporting, training and education of all personnel, and enhancing internal and external monitoring programs to identify betting activity of concern, per memo obtained by ESPN," Charania wrote on X on Tuesday morning.

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Charania also released an excerpt of the memo for all NBA teams, where the league addressed possible solutions to curb such activities.

"NBA memo to its teams: "While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier's "unders" in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done from a legal/regulatory perspective to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny."

This came after the FBI arrested NBA legend and current Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones for illegal betting and rigged poker games.

Injury reporting was one of the biggest issues in the indictments, as such personalities, among others, benefited from insider information about player injuries to earn from prop bets.

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Adam Silver felt disturbed and upset after learning FBI's arrests on NBA personalities

For Adam Silver, the FBI's arrests of Billups, Rozier, and Jones were "disturbing" and "upsetting" as he takes pride in the league's integrity.

"My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed," Silver said via Amazon Prime's first NBA broadcast. "There's nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition. I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting."

In a statement by the league, they expressed that they are still reviewing the indictments filed by the FBI.

Meanwhile, Billups and Rozier have been put in immediate leave by their teams as they deal with the cases.

Edited by Rob Andrew Lo