A dog worth a dollar, a championship ring used as collateral
When a man lists his dog as a one-dollar asset in bankruptcy court, he is already deep inside a story about desperation and diminishing options. Damon Jones, once a champion in the NBA, now faces federal charges alleging he sold insider knowledge about player injuries — including those of LeBron James — to sports gamblers, becoming one of more than thirty people swept up in Operation Nothing But Bet. The case arrives not as a sudden fall but as the final chapter of a decade-long financial unraveling, raising quiet questions about what systems catch the people who slip through them, and what temptations fill the void when they don't.
- Federal prosecutors have charged former NBA champion Damon Jones with leaking injury information to gamblers, allegedly texting a co-conspirator to bet against the Lakers when LeBron James was hurt.
- Operation Nothing But Bet has resulted in 30+ arrests, implicating not just retired players but active ones — including Heat guard Terry Rozier, accused of faking an injury to tip off bettors.
- Court records spanning more than a decade reveal two bankruptcies, $640,000 in debts, eviction proceedings, and a championship ring pledged as loan collateral and never returned.
- The scandal's reach extends to coaches, with Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups arrested in a related probe into high-stakes poker games allegedly tied to organized crime.
- Prosecutors say their evidence is extensive — financial records, iCloud data, surveillance photos, and text messages — suggesting the legal net around Jones and others is already tightly drawn.
Damon Jones filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and listed his Yorkshire Terrier as an asset worth one dollar. It was a small, almost absurd detail, but it pointed toward something larger — a financial collapse that would stretch across the next twelve years and eventually lead to federal criminal charges.
By 2023, Jones was facing eviction from a Houston luxury apartment, owing more than eleven thousand dollars in back rent. According to prosecutors, it was in this moment of acute desperation that he allegedly began selling what he had left: access. Court documents say he texted a co-conspirator urging a bet on the Milwaukee Bucks over the Los Angeles Lakers, tipping that a top player — believed to be LeBron James — was injured and unavailable. Jones, prosecutors allege, had inside knowledge, and he was trading it for money.
Last week, Jones was named in two federal indictments as part of Operation Nothing But Bet, one of the most significant gambling scandals in professional basketball history. More than thirty people have been arrested. The case also ensnares Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, accused of faking an injury during a 2023 Charlotte game and passing that information to a friend who sold it to bettors.
The court record behind Jones is extensive — over 150 pages. A second bankruptcy in 2015 listed between half a million and a million dollars in liabilities. He owed the Bellagio nearly fifty thousand dollars. In 2017, he borrowed ten thousand dollars from a private individual, pledging his 2016 NBA championship ring as collateral. He repaid neither the loan nor the ring. Between late 2023 and late 2024, three more men filed complaints saying Jones had failed to repay them. One, who ran a Houston youth basketball program, said Jones had promised twenty thousand dollars in exchange for a forty-five-hundred-dollar loan.
Eviction notices went unanswered. Court letters came back undeliverable. A default judgment was issued. Jones has not yet entered a plea and is awaiting arraignment in federal court in New York. His attorney has declined to comment.
The investigation reaches further still — into current players, coaches, and an alleged network of fixers and gamblers who found opportunity in the financial vulnerability of athletes. Among those arrested in a related probe is Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, tied to allegations of rigged high-stakes poker games with organized crime connections. Prosecutors say their evidence against Jones alone includes phone records, text messages, iCloud data, surveillance photographs, and witness testimony — the accumulated residue of a long unraveling, finally caught on record.
Damon Jones listed his dog as an asset worth a dollar when he filed for bankruptcy in 2013. It was a Yorkshire Terrier, unnamed in the court papers, and that single detail captures something essential about the financial wreckage that would define the next twelve years of his life.
By 2023, the former NBA player was facing eviction from a luxury apartment in Houston. He owed more than eleven thousand dollars in back rent. According to federal prosecutors, it was during this period of desperation that Jones allegedly texted someone and urged them to place a bet: the Milwaukee Bucks against the Los Angeles Lakers, because a top Lakers player—believed to be LeBron James—was sidelined with an injury. Jones, prosecutors say, had inside information, and he was selling it to gamblers.
Last week, federal prosecutors named Jones in two separate indictments as part of what they're calling Operation Nothing But Bet, one of the largest gambling scandals to touch professional basketball in recent memory. More than thirty people have been arrested. The case has pulled in not just former players but current ones, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who is accused of faking an injury to remove himself from a game in 2023 when he played for Charlotte, then tipping off a friend who sold that information to bettors.
Court documents reviewed by NBC News—more than 150 pages spanning over a decade—paint a portrait of financial catastrophe. In 2015, Jones filed for bankruptcy a second time, listing between five hundred thousand and one million dollars in liabilities. He owed creditors roughly six hundred and forty thousand dollars. He owed the Bellagio Hotels and Casino forty-seven thousand dollars for what the filing described as breach of contract. By 2017, he had borrowed ten thousand dollars from a man named Scott Kerr and put up his 2016 NBA championship ring as collateral. He never repaid the loan. He never returned the ring.
The pattern repeated. Between October 2023 and November 2024, three separate men filed complaints against Jones claiming he had failed to repay them thousands of dollars in loans. One of them, Antonio Hooper, who runs a youth basketball program in Houston, said Jones had agreed in writing to pay him twenty thousand dollars in exchange for a forty-five-hundred-dollar loan. Text messages between the two men, included in court filings, show Jones mentioning that LeBron James was upset about a Sports Illustrated article. Hooper said in an interview that Jones had once connected a mutual friend with James for a job interview at the NBA level—a connection James apparently did not appreciate, viewing it as Jones trading on his name without permission.
In June 2023, a property management company tried to evict Jones from his Houston apartment, claiming he owed fifty-six hundred dollars in rent. He did not appear in court. The company dismissed the case, then filed again in August, this time claiming he owed more than eleven thousand dollars. Again, Jones failed to appear. A judge issued a default judgment against him. When the court tried to mail him notice of the judgment, the letter came back marked with an insufficient address.
Jones has not yet entered a plea. He is due for arraignment in federal court in New York. His lawyer has declined to comment. The evidence prosecutors say they have accumulated includes financial records, telephone logs, text messages, cellphone location data, contents of Apple iCloud accounts, witness testimony, and surveillance photographs. The scope of the investigation extends beyond Jones. It touches current players, coaches—including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who was arrested as part of a related probe into rigged high-stakes poker games allegedly backed by organized crime—and a network of gamblers and fixers who saw opportunity in the vulnerability of athletes in financial freefall.
Citas Notables
LeBron didn't like Damon trading on his name. He didn't appreciate that.— Antonio Hooper, youth basketball program director and creditor
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
How does someone go from playing in the NBA to using a championship ring as collateral for a ten-thousand-dollar loan?
Slowly, and then all at once. The documents show Jones had money problems as early as 2013. By the time he's borrowing from people like Scott Kerr, he's already been through two bankruptcies. The ring becomes a kind of last asset—something with real value, something that proves he was once somebody.
And the gambling scheme itself—was this desperation, or was Jones actively seeking out gamblers?
The texts suggest he reached out. He's the one allegedly telling someone to bet on the Bucks because LeBron is injured. That's not passive. That's someone with access to information deciding to monetize it.
Why would LeBron James care that Jones was using his name to get a job interview?
Because it's a violation of trust. Jones is leveraging a connection, a relationship, to help himself or his friends. James didn't authorize that. It's the kind of thing that happens in circles where people know each other, where access becomes currency.
Do you think the financial pressure directly caused the gambling crimes, or are they separate problems?
They're entangled. A man facing eviction, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars, holding a championship ring he can't afford to keep—he's in a different mental state than someone financially stable. The pressure doesn't excuse the crime, but it explains the desperation that makes the crime possible.
What strikes you most about the documents?
The dog. That he had to list a dog worth a dollar as an asset. It's the smallest detail in the largest collapse.