NBA sports betting investigation reveals Damon Jones leaked LeBron James & Anthony Davis injury to bettors

NBA star turned coach Damon Jones was arrested by the FBI in connection to an illegal betting ring that allegedly used insider NBA intel.

Things are heating up off the courts of the NBA as the sports world turns its attention to the illegal gambling investigation. On Thursday, Damon Jones, a former NBA player turned assistant coach, was arrested by the FBI for his alleged role in an illegal sports betting ring and rigged card games. 

The indictment reportedly suggests that Jones and his co-conspirators, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, “participated in a scheme to defraud the Betting Companies by providing, obtaining and using non-public information relating to NBA games to place and cause others to place fraudulent sports wagers for profit, and to launder the proceeds thereof,” per CBS sports. 

Authorities specifically flagged two games where Jones reportedly leaked information about two players listed as “Player 3” and “Player 4” in the indictment. However, context led many to suspect that “Player 3” is LeBron James and “Player 4” as is Anthony Davis. 

“”The defendant DAMON JONES was a former NBA player and assistant coach. JONES played in the NBA from approximately 1999 through 2008, including as a member of the Cavaliers from approximately 2005 through 2008. JONES was an assistant coach on the Cavaliers from approximately 2014 through 2018. JONES was also an unofficial assistant coach on the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-23 NBA season. During many of those years, JONES was a teammate or coach of a prominent NBA player (“Player 3″), an individual whose identity is known to the Grand Jury,” the indictment read, per The New York Times.  “Player 4, an individual whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, was one of the Lakers’ best players during the 2023-24 NBA season.”

Jones reportedly leaked non-public information to sports bettors before the Lakers vs. Milwaukee game in Feb. 2023, sending a text that read, “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out! [Player 3] is out tonight. Bet enough so Djones can eat to [sic] now!!!” That night, James sat out of the game due to an an ankle injury and Milwaukee ultimately won the game. 

A year later, Jones reportedly told co-conspirators that James & Davis’ trainer revealed that Davis sustained an injury that would limit his performance and time on the court ahead of a Jan. 2024 Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game. The accused assistant coach is said to have been paid $2,500 for the information that earned bettors $100,000. 

Jones was one of the many individuals arrested this week for their alleged involvement in “a wide sweeping criminal enterprise that enveloped both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra,” per FBI director Kash Patel.

“As you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today, former and current NBA players and coaches. What you don’t know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years,” Patel continued, per People magazine. “The FBI led a coordinated take down across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing.”