Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups pleads not guilty in connection with alleged NBA betting scheme

Portland Trail Blazers head coach and National Basketball Association Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Brooklyn to charges of conspiring to lure unsuspecting poker players into games allegedly rigged by the mob.

“We plead not guilty,” said defense attorney Mark Mukasey.

Prosecutors said Billups was one of the “figures” in the alleged scheme that used his celebrity to lure high rollers to poker tables that were equipped with X-ray technology and altered shuffling machines. The poker games were backed by organized crime families, according to the indictment, which was unsealed on October 23.

Billups was released on $5 million bail, secured by a home in Colorado.

Judge Ramón Reyes said he intends for the trial to begin in September 2026.

“Do what you have to do to get it ready,” Reyes said.

Billups, who spent 17 seasons in the NBA and was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, is one of 31 defendants in the scheme, all of whom are due in court Monday. They face multiple charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

All 31 defendants appeared in court on Monday.

“With respect to at least some defendants, plea negotiations have begun,” said one of the prosecutors, Michael Gibaldi. He did not say which defendants might choose to change their pleas to guilty and resolve their cases before trial.

Federal prosecutors previously noted that they hope several of the defendants will ultimately choose to plead guilty.

“Although it is too early for the government and any of the defendants to engage in substantive plea negotiations, the government and defense attorneys for several defendants have entered into productive discussions that the government hopes will ultimately lead to resolutions regarding several defendants without the need for a trial,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing ahead of Monday’s status conference.

The evidence against Billups and his co-defendants, including NBA coach Damon Jones, comes from electronic devices, surveillance photographs, pole camera footage, bank records and phone records, prosecutors said.

Less than a week after the charges against Billups and others were revealed, the NBA announced it was conducting a review of how the league can protect itself from sports betting and whether it is doing enough to educate coaches, players and other staff about the “serious risks” gambling could pose to their careers, according to an NBA league memo obtained by ABC News.

Billups and Rozier were immediately suspended by their teams when the charges were announced, the NBA said.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misidentified Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier as one of the co-defendants in the alleged poker scheme.