Charles Barkley Calls Out Blazers' Chauncey Billups Amid Gambling Scandal

Oct 22, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups talks with Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images | Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers have had a bizarre start to their 2025-26 NBA season.

A Monday night 123-116 loss to a Los Angeles Lakers squad missing stars Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves aside, Portland has been putting together wins at an encouraging clip.

The team dropped its first game of the year under head coach Chauncey Billups, but with his interim replacement Tiago Splitter has gone 4-2, thanks to an emphasis on defensive pressing and switchability, plus some oversized athletes sharing the ball offensively.

More news: Blazers GM Bans Players From Contacting Chauncey Billups

New starting point guard Jrue Holiday has thrived in Billups/Splitter's system, and he and rising Trail Blazers star small forward Deni Avdija were both finalists for the league's Western Conference Player of the Week honor, the NBA's PR department recently announced.

All-Defensive forward Toumani Camara and center Donovan Clingan have also looked good, while veteran Jerami Grant is thriving in his new bench role.

But the biggest weirdness for Portland this season has been the developing situation of Billups, the team's technical head coach who has been banished from the league as he battles an FBI indictment on charges he served as a lure in mob-rigged poker games.

A Hall of Fame point guard in his day, it's possible that — depending on the outcome of his trial — Billups may never work in the NBA again. It's strange news, especially for an ascendant coach who had just agreed to an extension with Portland over the summer.

ESPN's "Inside The NBA" crew unpacked the way the league has dealt with both Billups' legal drama and the issues of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who was also indicted on charges of possibly faking injuries for his associates' gambling gains way back in 2022-23, when he was still with the Charlotte Hornets. The league allegedly investigated him and had allowed him to continue playing, but it claims now that it never officially cleared him. Of course, the idea that he was not cleared but was still allowed to play feels a bit fishy, too.

Charles Barkley took the league to task for this, while Ernie Johnson asked for clarification from Barkley about his feelings regarding the Billups of it all.

Kenny Smith on the NBA betting scandal: "We have to realize gambling is an addiction. The addiction of it is what makes you make illogical decisions..."

Charles Barkley: "That's not addiction. That's stupidity... You can't fix basketball games... That's just total… pic.twitter.com/0z27urhGw1

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 23, 2025

"Clear something up for me, Chuck," Johnson said. "You say the league dropped the ball on the Rozier part of it, because they had already looked at it and said, 'We don't have enough,' but they didn't drop the ball on Chauncey Billups."

"These are two different things," Barkley said. "Take Chauncey out of the equation."

More news: Blazers' Deni Avdija Breaks Silence on Chauncey Billups Arrest

Barkley proceeded to lambaste Rozier for risking his reputation, career, and potentially his carceral freedom on potentially fixing games by feigning injuries with prop bets on the line. He also went on to shred the NBA for apparently whiffing on its investigation into Rozier and allowing him to continue playing.

At least to the public's knowledge, the NBA had never investigated Billups prior to his indictment. Barkley seems to be conceding that the NBA is not to blame for being in the dark on the federal investigation into Billups.

For more news and notes on the Portland Trail Blazers, visit Portland Trail Blazers on SI.