On October 23, the FBI revealed that it had been conducting a multi-year investigation into two separate sports betting-related events with the NBA. This resulted in the arrests of both Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and current Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups.
The investigation is ongoing, and it was unclear if more players or well-known participants would be named. On Friday, October 24, sports journalist Pablo Torre began reporting that his sources say a number of former pro athletes played in the private poker games for which Billups was arrested.
Torre said that multiple sources with knowledge of a poker game in 2019 have told him that former Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett was one of those former pro athletes.
Here is what we know about Garnett’s alleged involvement in the FBI’s gambling scandal.
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What is Kevin Garnett’s role in NBA gambling scandal?
It is unclear if and how involved Garnett is in the NBA’s gambling scandal. Torre’s sources are alleging that Garnett took part in an illegal poker game back in 2019. We don’t have the details yet, and don’t know if he had a similar role that Billups is accused of in deceiving other players in the rigged game, or if he was just a player who was a victim of the games.
So far, Garnett has not been named in the indictment and hasn’t yet been accused of any wrongdoing.
NBA gambling scandal
There are two parts to the NBA’s gambling scandal.
One side of the gambling scandal involves Billups, as well as Jones. The Trail Blazers coach is accused of working with the mafia to conduct rigged poker games to swindle players out of hefty sums of money. This is the side Garnett is linked to, though it remains unclear for now if his name is coming up as a perpetrator of the poker game or a victim of it.
The other side, featuring Rozier and Jones for now, alleges that information was given to sports bettors about injury statuses to try and rig the outcomes of games.
Rozier, for example, is accused of faking an injury in 2023, allowing his conspirators to bet the under for his prop bets in the game. Damon Jones, a former player and assistant coach, is accused of leaking injury report news early to give his conspirators access to privy information before it was made public.
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What is ‘Operation Royal Flush’?
The FBI conducted one large gambling investigation, but named the individual parts. The one involving Rozier was referred to as “Nothing But Bet,” while the poker scandal side was referred to as “Operation Royal Flush.”
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Was Kevin Garnett arrested?
No, Garnett has not been arrested as far as we know. This coincides with the fact that we still don’t know his alleged role or if he is even a victim in what happened.
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Kevin Garnett’s role in ‘Uncut Gems’
Garnett played a fictionalized version of himself in “Uncut Gems.” The movie, starring Adam Sandler, follows a high-end jeweler running his business, but also battling an out-of-control gambling addiction. Sandler’s character owes money to a loan shark. He delays his payment back by smuggling in a rare opal.
Garnett is brought into the shop and wants the opal. Sandler won’t sell it to him because it has to go to auction, but lends it to Garnett for the night. The basketball star gives Sandler his championship ring with the Celtics, which Sandler immediately pawns to place a bet. Garnett then ends up buying the opal from Sandler at a highly reduced price, and Sandler uses the money to place one more bet that he wins, but is killed in the process.
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When did Kevin Garnett retire?
Garnett announced his retirement on September 23, 2016. He played 21 seasons in the NBA between his time with the Timberwolves, Celtics and Brooklyn Nets.
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