Pandora’s box has been opened, and Jaylen Brown doesn’t like what’s inside.
The Boston Celtics forward, who also is a vice president of the NBA Players Association, fielded multiple questions Friday about the FBI’s announcement Thursday that three prominent NBA figures — Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former player Damon Jones — had been arrested as part of two separate investigations into insider sports betting and rigged poker games involving Mafia members.
While Brown admitted he’s “not completely sure what’s going on” with the current scandal, he was adamant that NBA players need more support from the league when it comes to sports gambling.
“That whole world was introduced a couple of years ago, and I don’t think they took players into consideration, especially with the energy and the behavior that goes around gambling, and how that directly correlates to players,” Brown told reporters in New York ahead of the Celtics’ matchup with the Knicks.
“We don’t benefit from any of the profits or anything like that, but we’ve got to deal with a lot of the extra negativity and scrutiny behind all the gambling stuff. And on top of that, it creates more integrity issues, etcetera. So, I’m not sure what the answer is going forward, but definitely something we need to spend more time having conversations about.”
Sports betting, which was legalized at the federal level in 2018, is a massive industry that has already generated $10 billion in revenue in 2025 — up about 19 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Associated Press. But Brown believes the NBA hasn’t done enough to educate its players about the negative externalities of sports betting and instead has been dismissive about its dangers.
“I think a lot more could have been done to help players and prepare players. But even in the aftermath, I don’t think little care or attention to detail goes into it,” Brown said. “They’re like, ‘You make X amount of money or X, Y and Z; you should be able to deal with all the extra negativity, the people approaching you about parlays.’
“It creates a negative discourse around the game and players when people have money involved.”
FBI director Kash Patel warned Thursday that the investigation’s initial findings — which includes allegations that Rozier, Billups and Jones shared inside information about injuries and player availability with sports bettors, allowing them to profit — are just the “tip of the iceberg.” As for Brown, he’s hoping for a more open dialog between the league and the Players Association regarding how such scandals can be prevented going forward.
“Be open to having a conversation,” Brown said when asked what the NBA can do to better protect its players. “I don’t think yet once from my conversations with the union at the NBA has been like, ‘How can we protect players more in the (current) environment?’ There’s been little to no conversation around that.
“A lot of times it’s about, ‘How can we increase business and increase revenue?’ And I’m not sure if we’re having enough conversations (about), ‘What is the aftermath or the consequences that some of this stuff has?'”
