Ex-NBA Player Damon Jones to Plead Guilty in Sports Betting Scandal

Damon Jones set to plead guilty over role in NBA gambling scheme

Former NBA player and coach Damon Jones is set to plead guilty in a sports gambling case involving inside info on injuries, court filing shows.

Former Cavaliers Guard Damon Jones Faces Guilty Plea in Gambling Probe...

Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones is expected to plead guilty to sports gambling charges, a court filing showed Thursday, in a betting scandal that rocked elite US basketball.

Jones, 49, was charged over his alleged role in a scheme that prosecutors say supplied inside information on injuries and game absences to bettors between December 2022 and March 2024.

In one instance, he allegedly revealed that LeBron James would miss a Los Angeles Lakers game against the Milwaukee Bucks due to injury before that information was made public.

Jones initially denied the charges but, according to the filing, will change his plea at an April 28 hearing in New York City.

He is the first of six defendants charged in the case, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, to indicate he will plead guilty.

Jones is also charged in a second, separate case in which he has pleaded not guilty.

That involves a national network of mafia-linked rigged poker games encompassing around 30 people and the use of highly sophisticated cheating equipment, including X-ray tables.

Jones had a modest playing career across 11 different teams, most notably the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2008, where he played alongside four-time NBA champion James.

Damon Jones is expected to plead guilty in a sports gambling case tied to a DOJ probe that led to 30+ arrests, per @YahooSports

He was previously accused of profiting from rigged poker games and sharing non-public injury info on LeBron and AD. pic.twitter.com/bIL0xAnVci

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 16, 2026

He later became an assistant coach, working again for the Cavaliers from 2016 to 2018 during James’s second stint in Ohio.

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Jones served as James’s personal coach during the 2022–2023 season after the star joined the Lakers, without being employed by the team.