Los Angeles Lakers ahead LeBron James (23) prepares to shoot a foul shot in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Area on October 22, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Gina Ferazzi | Los Angeles Occasions | Getty Photos
A brand new bombshell indictment criminally charging former NBA participant Damon Jones means that whereas affiliated with the Los Angeles Lakers, Jones leaked details about the harm standing of famous person LeBron James to sports activities bettors earlier than a February 2023 sport.
James shouldn’t be accused of wrongdoing within the federal indictment, which alleges that Jones, 49, and others defrauded betting corporations.
Jones and James beforehand performed collectively on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jones was performing as an unofficial coach for the Lakers on the time of the February 2023 sport in Los Angeles that’s talked about within the indictment.
A James spokesman declined to remark to CNBC.
The indictment refers to an unidentified Participant 3.
The doc says that Jones “was a teammate and coach of a distinguished participant,” who was Participant 3.
The indictment says that Jones, on the morning of a Feb. 9 sport between the Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks “despatched a textual content message to Co-Conspirator 9, writing: ‘Get a giant guess on Milwaukee tonight earlier than the knowledge is out! [Player 3] is out tonight. Guess sufficient so Djones can eat … now!”
Coach Damon Jones seems on in the course of the sport in the course of the 2025 G League Elite Camp on Could 11, 2025 at Windtrust Area in Chicago, Illinois.
Jeff Haynes | Nationwide Basketball Affiliation | Getty Photos
“On the time Jones supplied this personal details about Participant 3 to Co-Conspirator 9, Participant 3 was not dominated out on the NBA’s harm report for the” sport, the indictment says.
James ended up sitting out that Feb. 9 sport with a lower-body harm, to his ankle
The indictment says, “As a consequence of a decrease physique harm, Participant 3 didn’t play within the February 9 Recreation.”
The one different energetic Laker participant to take a seat out that sport with an harm was Scotty Pippen Jr., who didn’t have a lower-body harm. Pippen was within the concussion protocol for the sport.
Milwaukee defeated the Lakers in that sport by a rating of 115 to 106.
The Bucks went into the sport as a favourite by a mean of 8 factors, in accordance with numerous odds websites.
An individual accustomed to James’ state of affairs stated James didn’t know his info can be used for betting.
— Further reporting by CNBC’s Jessica Golden
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