Prime Video debuted its NBA coverage on Friday night, one day after the league was rocked by a federal gambling indictment of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was interviewed by Cassidy Hubbarth of Prime Video during the broadcast.
She initially asked for the Commissioner’s reaction to the news of the charges.
“My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,” Silver said, Matt Clapp of AwfulAnnouncing.com. “There’s nothing more important to the league and the fans than the integrity of the competition. And, so, I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”
Silver then was reminded that the NBA had cleared Rozier, after its own investigation. “What do you make of that decision now amid the FBI’s allegations against him?” Hubbarth asked.
“So what happened was, because bets were placed through legalized — legal betting companies, they picked up aberrational behavior around a particular game in March of ’23,” Silver said. “And so that was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting companies. We then looked into that situation and were very transparent about it. And while there was that aberrational betting, we frankly couldn’t find anything. 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. We then worked directly with the law enforcement, as they said at the press conference, that the league has been cooperating. And so that was obviously over two years ago. So, the federal government has subpoena power, can threaten to put people in jail, can do all kinds of things that a league office can’t do. So we’ve been working with them since then. And, of course, what they announced yesterday was an indictment. So, two and a half years later, 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. And so, there’s a balance here of protecting people’s rights and investigating. And, as I said, we’ve been working with the government, and they have extraordinary powers that a league office doesn’t have.”
He seems to be accurate about that. The NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement requires players to cooperate with Personal Conduct Policy investigations, without regard to the constitutional right to self-incrimination. The NBA’s CBA gives players the ability to clam up if they reasonably believe they may be prosecuted.
Specifically, Article VI, Section 11 of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement states that “[p]layers are required to cooperate with investigations of alleged player misconduct conducted by the NBA. Failure to so cooperate, in the absence of a reasonable apprehension of criminal prosecution, will subject the player to reasonable fines and/or suspensions imposed by the NBA.”
In other words, if Rozier had “a reasonable apprehension of criminal prosecution,” he was not required to cooperate. That said, Silver explained that Rozier did cooperate.
So if he cooperated, it appears that the NBA accepted his version of the events. Which makes sense. Because the NBA has no ability to subpoena non-NBA employees, it can’t do the same investigation that the feds can.
Still, the NBA — like the NFL — has an obvious self-interest when it comes to not making something into a figurative federal case. Now that a literal federal case is pending, the NBA has no choice but to sit back and wait as the prosecution unfolds.
How much damage will be done to the game? The better question at this point could be how much damage can be undone?
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