Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff didn’t hold back Sunday when discussing the growing influence of gambling in the NBA, calling it a “scary situation” that players and coaches must handle with extreme caution.
Speaking before Detroit’s home opener against the Boston Celtics, Bickerstaff explained that even casual locker-room or practice conversations could now carry serious consequences.
“It’s a scary situation,” Bickerstaff said before the game, per ESPN. “The information that our guys have, just natural things that happen through a shootaround or through a practice that might be a casual conversation at home or wherever it may be, that information has been monetized now. You have to be extremely careful. We’ve had a ton of conversations [with] our guys about that and just how sensitive it is.”
The comments came amid an ongoing gambling scandal that has rocked the league, with Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier among 31 people arrested in connection with illegal betting activities.
Federal investigators allege that insiders leaked injury and health information to bettors involved in organized gambling rings.
Bickerstaff, who has known Billups since childhood, said the allegations hit close to home.
“He is a friend of mine. I’ve known him since I was in seventh grade,” Bickerstaff said. “I care about him immensely, and I hate to see what he’s going through right now. As a friend, as a human, I am here to support him and be there for him in any way that he needs me to be.”
Bickerstaff summed up the broader issue with a warning that echoed beyond Detroit.
“When you get in bed with sports betting and gambling, there’s a lot of things that come with it,” he said. “All money ain’t good money.”
READ MORE: NBA Rocked as Chauncey Billups & Terry Rozier Arrested in Federal Gambling Probe
