The NBA was rocked Thursday by an FBI indictment charging 31 people — including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former player Damon Jones — in an explosive gambling scandal with alleged ties to organized crime. Yet, while the sports world tried to process the scope of the investigation, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had a very different takeaway on First Take: the timing of the announcement, he argued, had political fingerprints all over it.
During the second segment of the program while an FBI press conference was underway announcing the charges, Smith connected the revelation of the indictments to President Donald Trump, warning that what happened Thursday “is more about Trump than the allegations presented.”
“We’re sitting here on a sports show, doing First Take,” Smith said. “We all know what other stuff that I do. You know what world that I live in, in terms of politics — how many times for one incident after another have I said Trump is coming? He’s coming. We’ll say it on national television.”
The FBI’s findings included accusations that Rozier intentionally altered his play in a 2023 game to benefit illegal bets, while Billups and Jones were linked to a Mafia-connected poker operation. FBI Director Kash Patel led a rare, nationally televised news conference to announce the charges — something Smith said immediately caught his attention.
“I’m watching a press conference with the director of the FBI,” Smith said. “Tell me when we’ve seen that. You don’t see the director of the FBI having a press conference. It’s not coincidental, it’s not an accident. It’s a statement, and it’s a warning that more is coming.”
Smith argued the event’s timing — hours after NBA rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama’s stellar season debut — wasn’t accidental either.
“Big night for the NBA, Victor Wembanyama put on a show that has now been smeared because we’re talking about this story,” Smith said. “Trump has a long history connected to the world of sports because he had those casinos. Where do you think folks will come in half the time? I’m not talking about individuals. I’m talking about the culture. When people want to go to a casino, when people want to gamble, when people want to party, or whatever the case may be, this was his kind of connection to that.”
While Smith repeatedly acknowledged that the legitimacy of the allegations remains unclear, he framed the moment as part of a broader pattern of Trump inserting himself into the sports world.
“Don’t be surprised that the WNBA is next on his list,” he warned. “Anybody that has seen his reactions from the sports leagues and the positions that people have taken — they are not surprised at what’s going on.”
Smith closed his monologue by suggesting this might only be the beginning.
“He’s coming because in his eyes, folks try to throw him in jail,” Smith said. “They think this is like the tip of the iceberg… Everybody better brace themselves, because he’s coming.”
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