Following its illegal gambling arrests, the NBA is demanding documents, cell phones and more from employees of several teams, according to The Athletic. The employee list reportedly includes some of LeBron James’ closest acquaintances within the Los Angeles Lakers.
The requests are part of an investigation into illegal gaming and come after a grilling by Congress following the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Damon Jones. The investigation would be conducted by the external law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
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From Athletics:
“The NBA retained an independent law firm to investigate the allegations contained in the indictment once it was made public,” an NBA spokesperson said. Athletics in a statement. “As is the norm in this type of investigation, a number of different people and organizations have been asked to preserve documents and records. Everyone has been fully cooperative.”
The Lakers appear to be facing increased scrutiny due to Jones’ arrestwhich prosecutors say was part of both a rigged poker scheme and the use of inside information for gambling purposes. It is alleged that in one instance, Jones informed bettors that James would miss the 2023 games against the Milwaukee Bucks due to injury, although he was not listed on the injury report.
Jones played with James for three years on the Cavaliers, helped coach him during James’ second stint in Cleveland and continued their relationship as an unofficial assistant coach with the Lakers during the 2022-23 season. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The NBA has reportedly requested documents and cell phones from at least 10 Lakers employees. Two of them are part of James’ inner circle on the team: assistant coach Mike Mancias and executive administrator Randy Mims, who granted the requests.
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Mancias has been James’ personal trainer for about 20 years, according to The Athletic, while Mims has known James. since he was 5 years old. To be clear, none of James, Mancias and Mims have been charged with a crime or mentioned by name in government proceedings thus far.
However, there is a section in the indictment in which Jones allegedly claimed that the coach of two Lakers players, identified as “Player 3” (aka James) and “Player 4”, informed him that one of those players, “Player 4”, had been injured.
The NBA is probably wondering about this.
