The FBI arrested 30-plus individuals Thursday as part of a sports betting and gambling investigation. Among those charged in the probe include Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former Cavaliers player and assistant Damon Jones.
According to The Athletic, Jones is alleged to have sold or tried to profit from private information about LeBron James just days after the Lakers' star broke the NBA's all-time scoring record in 2023. The game referenced by the FBI's investigation was between L.A. and the Bucks on Feb. 9. James did not play due to ankle soreness. The Athletic reports James was not aware Jones shared information about his playing status with bettors.
Another incident involving a ”top Lakers player” occurred on Jan. 15, 2024. Jones reportedly learned from a trainer that the player in question was dealing with an injury. One defendant allegedly placed a $100,000 wager based on that information, but the player ended up participating in the game and performing well. The defendant, Marves Fairley, reportedly requested Jones pay back the $2,500 he was given for the information, according toThe Athletic.
At the time, Jones was not an official member of the Lakers' staff, though he was granted permission to do pregame work with James. The Athletic reports he had access to the locker room, team hotels and even the team plane.
Jones is a longtime friend of James dating back to their time in Cleveland, where they were teammates from 2005 to '08.
In addition to those instances, the FBI alleges that Jones and Billups were involved in rigging poker games, using poker trays with hidden cameras, special contact lenses and x-ray tables that were abel to read face-down cards in order to gain an advantage.
Who is Damon Jones?
Jones, 49, is a Galveston, Texas native who played college basketball at the University of Houston from 1994 to '97. He was not selected in the 1997 NBA draft, but went on to have an 11-year career in the NBA from 1998 to 2009. He played for 10 different teams, including the Cavaliers, Nets, Celtics, Bucks, Heat, Grizzlies, Pistons, Kings, Mavericks and Warriors. His last season in the league was in '09 in Milwaukee.
Jones averaged 6.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists across 657 career games in the NBA. After retirement, he joined the Cavaliers' coaching staff as a shooting consultant. In 2016, he was added to Tyronn Lue's coaching staff in Cleveland for the NBA playoffs, the year in which the Cavaliers won a championship. He was named a full-time assistant the following season.
Somewhat famously, during his time as an assistant in Cleveland in 2016, Jones was involved in a bizarre incident which resulted in a one-game suspension for J.R. Smith after the guard threw hot soup at Jones. Smith, when retelling the story during an appearance on The Old Man and the Three podcast, said that Jones was "playing" with him and tried to make him spill his soup. Smith said he was dealing with stuff at home and struggling on the court, and decided to throw his hot soup on Jones as a means of teaching him lesson. Ultimately, not much came from the incident outside of Smith's one-game suspension, and the two-time NBA champ said that Jones apologized to him the next day.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Who Is Damon Jones? The Other Ex-Player Involved in NBA's Gambling Scandal.