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National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner Adam Silver appeared on several shows during the holiday season to challenge the gambling-riddled narrative surrounding the sport.
On the one hand, Silver sought to allay concerns about the integrity of the sport in North America. On the other hand, the commissioner has refocused the sport’s priorities on future growth, including domestic and international expansion, as the game seeks to distance itself from the federal investigation into current and former players.
Silver said publicly on Good Morning America (GMA) that the headline-grabbing scandal in 2025 was “an isolated incident.”
Despite Silver’s confidence, the sport remains under congressional control and betting operators are poised to impose sanctions on prop betting unless the sport provides assurances and policy changes.
NBA dominated by gaming business in 2025
Silver, during his GMA appearance, delivered a measured and confident assessment of the league’s integrity, saying it (the NBA) was “absolutely solid.”
As we have reported in detail, the NBA is fighting publicity surrounding a betting scandal which spanned several championship matches and featured former and current stars.
Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones were all involved in the FBI case involving illegal poker games and also the fixed results prop bets and match results in previous seasons.
All three men were accused of using inside information to influence these results for personal financial gain. There were also widespread rumors that these individuals were linked to organized crime and prominent mafia families in North America.
Since then, all three men have pleaded not guilty, with Rozier’s legal counsel requesting that all charges against the former Charlotte star be dropped.
These charges of conspiracy to commit electronic fraud and conspiracy to launder money, says Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, should not be considered because they are not direct actions or intent to gamble on the part of the NBA player.
Terry Rozier’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the wire fraud conspiracy. costs. The system deprived a bookmaker of the ability to make informed decisions about accepting a bet because Rozier provided a co-defendant with certain nonpublic information. SCOTUS rejected the theory in Ciminelli v. US that they wrote pic.twitter.com/2v58BD0LO8
–Matt Rybaltowski (@MattRybaltowski) December 23, 2025
“The indictment does not allege that Mr. Rozier ever placed a bet, either himself or through an agent, on any NBA game,” Trusty said. “Nor does he allege that he knew Laster intended to sell this information to others, or that using it to place bets would violate the betting companies’ rules.”
Silver steps away from public ties to betting business
Speaking ahead of the NBA Cup Finals, Silver told the press that the outcome of gaming matters does not fall within the regulatory jurisdiction of the sport and that “it is beyond our control”.
“He (Rozier) hasn’t been convicted of anything yet either,” Silver commented when asked about the Miami Heat guard’s future. “It’s an unfortunate circumstance. Sometimes there are these unique events and maybe sometimes they require unique solutions.”
This distancing signals to the media and fans that the NBA is not pursuing sanctions that could be imposed on the three individuals at the heart of the case.
It is an intentional decision by the sport to leave the fate of Rozier, Billups and Jones to the courts and move forward.
NBA Expansion Takes Center Stage
One topic Silver was keen to address was possible European expansion and rumors of a Las Vegas team being presented to the NBA commission in the near future.
Silver said, “There’s a huge opportunity there” when addressing the question of a possible European NBA team.
Any focus on gambling and questions about betting irregularities is good news for the sport, which is why the tone of Silver’s comments about the future was too forward-thinking.
“I think Seattle and Las Vegas are two incredible cities…I have no doubt that Las Vegas could support an NBA team,” Silver said of the rumors of national expansion.
With the NBA already deeply entrenched in Las Vegas through the Summer League, NBA Cup and WNBA, the city has become increasingly difficult to ignore as a possible new franchise home.
Additionally, a team tied to the nation’s betting capital would be a nod to the commissioner’s intention to take betting reform seriously to avoid another gambling incident.
Injury reporting to change ahead of betting scrutiny
Even as expansion dominates the forward-looking discourse, Silver has not ignored the structural issues raised by the betting scrutiny.
Regarding GMA, he reiterated the league’s long-held view that regulated betting markets provide greater transparency than illegal alternatives.
“For me, the options are illegal betting or legal betting. And if we had that choice, we would much prefer there to be legal betting where there is transparency.”
ESPN’s Shams Charania is the leading correspondent for breaking news in sports, and in the same week as the New York Knicks’ landmark NBA Cup victory, he reported that the NBA was considering changes to injury reporting.
The NBA is adopting several sports betting policies for its 30 teams, including changing injury reporting rules: Teams will now be required to resubmit injury lists on game day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time and update public reporting every 15 minutes, sources told ESPN.
– Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 19, 2025
“Teams will now be required to resubmit the injury list on game day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time and update public reports every 15 minutes, sources told ESPN,” his post on X reads.
Silver lining
Silver has proven to be a key and tactful figure for the league during turbulent times, and his message ahead of 2026 is about expansion, growth and the future.
Something the NBA is lucky to have after a 2025 that shook up the sport and could have been devastating for prop betting in the league.
We’ve already seen betting changes imposed on America’s greatest pastime, Major League Baseball, following investigations into gambling.
In the context of cases involving Emmanuel Clasé and Luis Ortizwho face allegations of illegal gambling, the sport now offers limited prop betting and is removed from parlay builders entirely.
Featured image: Markus Spiske/Unsplash
The position Adam Silver Moves From Gambling Scrutiny to NBA Expansion Talks appeared first on ReadWrite.
