NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, in his first public comments since the arrests of Portland coach Chauncey Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier on gambling-related charges, said Friday night that he was stunned by the indictments that have rocked the league. “My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,” Silver said on Amazon Prime Video, during the streaming service’s first broadcast — Boston at New York. “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.” Such was a sentiment shared by many around the league on Friday, one day after the indictments were unsealed and nearly three dozen people — most notably, Billups and Rozier — were arrested by federal officials. Rozier was arrested because federal officials allege he conspired with associates to help them win bets based on his statistical performance. The charges are similar to what former Toronto player Jontay Porter faced before he was banned from the league by Silver in 2024. Billups faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering for participating in what federal officials called Mafia-backed rigged poker games. He also matches the credentials of someone described only as Co-Conspirator 8 in an indictment detailing how some people gave bettors inside information on player health statuses. The arrests have overshadowed the opening week around the league. “I apologize to our fans that we are all dealing with this situation,” Silver said during the in-game interview. The Rozier case has gone on since March 23, 2023. He was with the Charlotte Hornets at that time, and sportsbooks — legal ones — alerted the NBA to irregular patterns involving Rozier’s “prop bets” that day. Rozier went on to play about 9 1/2 minutes, and those who bet that he would underperform the listed stat lines won those wagers. Federal officials said more than $200,000 was bet on those lines alone. The NBA investigated and found no reason to sanction Rozier, Silver said. “We frankly couldn’t find anything,” Silver said. “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. “He still hasn’t been convicted of anything, in fairness to Terry. Obviously, it doesn’t look good. But he’s now been put on administrative leave. There’s a balance here of protecting people’s rights and investigating.” Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue calls Billups his best friend and said the news was difficult to take. He said he spoke with Billups on Thursday night and was encouraged by what he heard. “To go through something like this, the allegations, his family, my goddaughters, it was a tough day,” Lue said. “You never want to see your friends go through anything like that.” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers started in the NBA as a player more than 40 years ago. He’s seen plenty of good and bad. He thought he had heard it all. That is, until now. “It’s really sad,” Rivers said Friday. Along with Billups and Rozier, former NBA player Damon Jones now faces charges because officials said he tipped off bettors about the health status of two Los Angeles Lakers players. The details in […]
President Donald Trump plans to burnish his reputation as an international dealmaker on Sunday by solidifying a trade agreement with Malaysia and overseeing the signing of an expanded ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, two nations that skirmished along their disputed border earlier this year. The two accords could be finalized while Trump attends the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is being hosted in Kuala Lumpur. It’s the first stop of a three-country swing across the continent, with visits to Japan and South Korea and a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One that he was optimistic his meeting with Xi could yield progress on a range of issues, including fentanyl trafficking and soybean trade. “I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal,” Trump said. “I want our farmers to be taken care of. And he wants things also.” Details about Trump’s agreements have been characteristically scarce, even after Trump departed Washington. It remains to be seen whether Trump’s dealmaking addresses longstanding issues or puts them off for another day. The Republican president is scheduled to touch down in Kuala Lumpur around 10 a.m. local time. He will meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim before attending a ceremony featuring Cambodia and Thailand and later joining regional leaders for dinner. U.S. presidents don’t always attend this summit, and Trump went only once during his first term. But he told reporters aboard Air Force One that he wanted to come because Anwar helped resolve the fighting between Cambodia and Thailand. “I told the leader of Malaysia, who is a very good man, ‘I think I owe you a trip,’” Trump said. Dozens of people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced during five days of combat in July. Cambodia and Thailand have competing territorial claims, and violence periodically flares along their border. Trump threatened to withhold trade agreements from the two countries unless they stopped fighting, a display of economic leverage that has been credited with spurring negotiations. A shaky truce has persisted since then. “The fact that Trump was holding the tariff card was actually very, very significant,” said Ou Virak, president of Phnom Penh’s Future Forum think tank. “That’s probably the main reason, if not the only reason, but definitely the main reason why the two sides agreed immediately to the ceasefire.” Now, he said, “there’s a ceremony for Trump to be in front of cameras” so he can be “seen as the champion that brings an end to wars and conflicts,” giving him ”more ammunition for his bid for Nobel Peace Prize.” Trump has explicitly campaigned for the honor, continuously adding to a list of conflicts that he either helped resolve or claims to have ended. Thai foreign ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told reporters on Saturday that the “joint declaration” to be signed on Sunday will state that Thailand and Cambodia “are committed to renew their relations.” He also said there has been an agreement to address Thai concerns about landmines and heavy artillery along the border, as well as other issues. “It’s not an end in itself,” Nikorndej said. “Work has just begun.” Trump expressed confidence about the prospect of finalizing trade agreements during his trip. Negotiations have […]
Senator John Fetterman addresses dysfunction in Washington and the ongoing government shutdown, saying he can’t control the direction of the Democratic Party but will always vote “country over party.”
President Trump is asked if he’d consider meeting Kim Jong Un during his Asia trip: “If he’d like to meet, I’m open to it… They have very little telephonic service, but he knows I’m coming — and, yeah, I’d be open to it, 100%.”
Trump on Democrats: “All they have to do is say yes and [the shutdown] is over… and then we go into a negotiation. Obamacare has been terrible. We can make it better. I’m all for that — but they’re not.”
Trump on the Democrat Shutdown: “All they have to do is agree to let’s go and we’re ready… This is purely Democrat. They’re doing some really bad things. I think they’re lost souls.”
Bernie Sanders: “If you don’t have any borders, you don’t have a nation… Trump did a better job. I don’t like Trump, but we should have a secure border. It ain’t that hard to do. Biden didn’t do it.”
Stephen Miller after an illegal alien truck driver in California killed three: “This is a Democrat-caused calamity… Newsom, in his state, has a policy to give CDLs to individuals who don’t know how to speak English and don’t know how to drive.”
Florida police have arrested a Colombian theft ring posing as landscapers. All five suspects, who are in the U.S. illegally, are now in jail with ICE detainers.
Trump on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reportedly considering a large purchase of Ford F-150 trucks: “That’s great. She has good taste. That’s a HOT truck.”
Trump-endorsed New Jersey governor candidate Jack Ciattarelli was seen making his seventh and final stop at a polling location on the first day of early voting.
The New York Times reports that Timothy Mellon, a railroad magnate and heir to the Mellon family fortune, is the $130 million donor funding the U.S. military during the government shutdown. President Trump praised Mellon as “a great gentleman” and “a great patriot” without naming him.
The IDF confirmed a drone strike in southern Lebanon that killed Zayn al-Abidin Hussein Fatouni, a terrorist in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. Fatouni led the group’s anti-tank missile unit and was involved in rebuilding Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the region, the military said.
Trump on the White House ballroom: “We’ve raised over $350 million. It’s a beautiful room… I don’t have any plan to call it after myself… we haven’t really thought about a name yet.”
