The NBA finds itself embroiled in fresh controversy following a report that Tyronn Lue, head coach of the LA Clippers, attended a poker game allegedly manipulated by Mafia members.

Despite the claims, Lue has not been implicated in any criminal activity by authorities and was absent from last week’s indictments. The Daily Mail has requested a response from his representatives.

The situation escalated last week when the FBI carried out a series of arrests overnight, which briefly involved Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers’ head coach Chauncey Billups, and former Cleveland Cavaliers player Damon Jones.

Adding another layer to the unfolding drama, journalist Pablo Torre reported earlier this week that ex-NFL player Antonio Gates had not only participated in but also hosted a rigged poker game in Miami.

Gates, however, has not been officially charged with any wrongdoing and his name does not appear in the federal indictment issued on Thursday. His representatives issued a statement to DailyMail.com, clarifying: “Antonio Gates has not been involved nor accused of any wrongdoing. Any suggestions otherwise are baseless and unfounded. We will not provide further comments on this matter.”

A report alleges LA Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue attended a Mafia-led rigged poker game

The report comes after Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested

Lue and Chauncey have held a close relationship and previously lived with each other

Now, the scandal has taken another turn amid a report alleging that Clippers head coach Lue was also at one of the alleged rigged poker games with Billups. 

According to Torre, who has extensively reported on the scandal, the game took place in April 2019 and both Billups and Lue were used as ‘face cards’.

On his show, ‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’, he said: ‘Here’s the open secret around the NBA: Ty Lue lives in Vegas during the offseason. He also loves poker. 

‘He’s often seen at what many insiders consider the nexus of the NBA poker world—the Aria High Limit Bar—often alongside another retired NBA player: Damon Jones’.

Torre alleges that Lue ‘did not play’ at the same table as Billups but was present at the game. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Los Angeles Clippers as well as Lue’s agents for comment. 

Back in 2021, a report by The Athletic detailed the close relationship between the trio of Lue, Billups and Jones, who have all worked together at separate points. 

In fact, the report claims that Lue helped school Billups – who had just finished his NBA career – on the nuances of coaching, just before he landed his role in Portland.

The article details how, for six weeks during the Covid-19 pandemic, Billups’ home was ‘transformed into a coaching camp’ by Lue, with Jones also moving in.

This multi-million-dollar townhouse in New York City was of many properties allegedly leveraged to run the alleged Mafia-led illegal betting operation that has rocked the NBA 

DailyMail.com obtained a picture showing Billups (left) at a poker table in 2019 alongside two alleged co-conspirators; Sophia Wei (middle) and Saul Becher (behind Wei)

The Mafia allegedly used X-ray tables and high-tech contact lenses to read people’s cards

Speaking to the outlet at the time, Billups said: ‘We just have this really special relationship. I don’t know what it is, we have a few things in common — he’s down to earth, humble, loves basketball… and is just such a loyal dude. 

‘But at the same time, we have different personalities. He’s been pretty much a single guy his whole life, and I’ve been with my wife for what seems like my entire life. But we just started to talk at these tournaments and it just continued to grow.’

The outlet note that the duo became so close that Billups asked Lue to be to godfather to Cydney, the first of his three daughters. 

In the same article, Billups revealed how he was unsatisfied with TV analyst work at the time and needed to satisfy a change in order to satisfy ‘competitive edge’. 

‘The game was over and I didn’t win or lose. It was just… cool, the game is over. So I enjoyed it, liked it, but I was missing something,’ he explained. 

Fast forward four years and Billups, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, was arrested in relation to an alleged illegal poker operation accused of association with the Mafia.

A photo showing indicted NBA coach Chauncey Billups at a poker table alongside two alleged co-conspirators was obtained by DailyMail.com last week. 

The alleged poker operation is tied to the Gambino, Bonanno and Genovese crime families, the government claims, and saw rigged games take place in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Las Vegas.

It is alleged that New York’s notorious crime families would use X-ray tables to tilt games in their favor and wear special high-tech contact lenses to read pre-marked cards.

They allegedly rigged shuffling machines to read the cards in the deck and predict hands

Ex-NFL star Antonio Gates was also dragged into the picture following a report claiming he was involved in the alleged Mafia-led gambling operation. Gates has denied the claim

At a press conference, United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said: ‘The defendants used a variety of very sophisticated cheating technologies, some of which were provided by other defendants in exchange for a share of the profits from the scheme.

‘They used off the shelf shuffling machines that had been secretly altered in order to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand and relay that information to an off-site operator.

‘The off-side operator sent the information via cellphone back to a co-conspirator at the table, who was known as ‘the quarterback’, and they secretly signaled the information they had received to others at the table and together they used that information in order to win the games and cheat their victims.

‘Defendants used other cheating technologies, such as poker chip tray analyzers – which is a poker chip try that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera – special contact lenses or glasses that could read pre-marked cards and an X-ray table that could read cards faced down on the table.’