‘Woke’ NBA commissioner scrambles to explain mob-led gambling scandal, says he’s ‘deeply disturbed’

National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver weighed in publicly for the first time on the gambling arrests that have rocked the sports world, scrambling to explain a scandal that has the potential to inflict lasting damage on the league and professional basketball as a whole.

On Thursday, federal law enforcement officials announced operation “Nothing but Bet,” a probe into sports gambling and the mob that has already resulted in more than 30 arrests, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, as well as former player Damon Jones.

With congressional lawmakers wanting answers from Silver, the embattled commish apologized to fans in an interview during Amazon Prime’s streaming broadcast of Friday’s game between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks from Madison Square Garden.

NBA commish Adam Silver addresses gambling allegations during game interview by @CassidyHubbarth. This is a a really good interview given the in game nature of it. Silver says league cleared Rozier in 2023 after investigation found no wrongdoing: pic.twitter.com/WPo6TklSaJ

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 25, 2025

“My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,” Silver said during the halftime interview. “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.”

“I apologize to our fans that we are all dealing with this situation,” he added.

The commissioner also said that the league found no reason to take action against Rozier after a 2023 investigation when the NBA was alerted by sports books about unusual patterns in “prop bets” during a game that he was playing in while a member of the Charlotte Hornets, a game that he “exited 10 minutes into the game, citing a foot issue,” according to ESPN.

“What do you make of that decision now amid the FBI’s allegations against him?” Prime Video’s Cassidy Hubbarth asked.

“So what happened was, because bets were placed through legalized — legal betting companies, they picked up aberrational behavior around a particular game in March of ’23,” he said. “And so that was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting companies. We then looked into that situation and were very transparent about it. And while there was that aberrational betting, we frankly couldn’t find anything.”

“Terry at the time cooperated. He gave the league office his phone. He sat down for an interview. And we ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence, despite that aberrational behavior, to move forward. We then worked directly with the law enforcement, as they said at the press conference, that the league has been cooperating,” Silver continued.

The gambling scandal has exposed the commissioner to harsh criticism over his obsession with the league’s championing of “woke” left-wing and Black Lives Matter politics, even though the NBA seems to have had a much more serious problem, one that could have catastrophic implications for its future.

More troubling than the manipulation of betting and rigged card games is the possibility that the outcome of NBA games themselves are being affected with Billups appearing to be an “unnamed conspirator” in a plan to intentionally lose a March 2023 game between the Trailblazers and Chicago Bulls so that the team could improve its draft chances, according to a criminal indictment that was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, NY on Thursday.

“Details in the indictment describing the NBA playing and coaching career of ‘Co-Conspirator 8,’ who leaked the plan to tank the game, match those of Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame,” CNBC reported. “The man who received the tip then shared that information with another man, who, with several others, placed bets with legal online bookmakers totaling about $100,000 that the Trail Blazers would lose the game, the indictment alleges.”

“The Blazers lost the game 124-96 after their four leading per-game scorers for that season did not play,” according to the outlet.

Billups was not charged in the case. The Pro Basketball Hall of Famer was indefinitely suspended after his arrest.

“Chauncey Billups has never backed down. He does not plan to do so now. He will fight these allegations with the same tenacity that marked his 28-year career. We look forward to our day in court,” Billups’ attorney Chris Heywood said in a statement.

Staff Writer

Chris Donaldson is an ordinary American who is concerned about rampant corruption as well as the ongoing attacks on our way of life by those who have contempt for our hard-earned freedoms. A Navy veteran, he has been a frequent contributor to conservative websites and resides in Florida.

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