NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is a wanted man in Congress right now.
Days after the House Committee on Energy and Commerce demanded answers from Silver regarding the betting scandal swirling around the league, the Senate equivalent Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee pressed the league’s chief.
Cruz and Cantwell chief authors of new letter
Chair Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell authored a letter to Silver on Oct. 27 in which, similar to the House committee, they asked him to provide details of NBA personnel’s alleged involvement in betting schemes and explain how the league has investigated and responded to such incidents.
“This is a matter of Congressional concern,” wrote Cruz and Cantwell. “The integrity of NBA games must be trustworthy and free from the influence of organized crime or gambling-related activity. Sports betting scandals like this one may lead the American public to assume that all sports are corrupt.”
The senators acknowledged that nobody has accused the NBA of having any role in fixing games and also noted that the league has taken steps to prevent betting internally. Still, they want to know how Silver and the league are protecting integrity in light of perhaps the biggest wagering scandal to cast a shadow on the league.
Shadow of past Rozier probe looms large
The two committees’ respective letters have some differences. The Oct. 24 House correspondence asked Silver to identify any gaps in existing regulations that may allow illegal betting schemes to occur as well as questioning whether the NBA is reassessing its partnerships with sports betting operators.
Meanwhile, the Oct. 27 Senate letter drilled down into how a past NBA internal investigation into Terry Rozier did not unearth the activity alleged by the FBI and its investigatory partners. The NBA said in January 2025 that it looked into suspected unusual betting activity on Rozier prop bets in the 2022-23 NBA season but did not find any violation of league rules.
“This Committee needs to understand the specifics of the NBA’s investigation and why Rozier was cleared to continue playing basketball,” wrote Cruz and Cantwell.
‘Frankly, we couldn’t find anything’
Silver was asked directly by NBA on Prime reporter Cassidy Hubbarth on Oct. 24 about that past investigation.
“Because bets were placed through legal betting companies, they picked up aberrational behavior around a particular game in March of ’23,” Silver said. “That was brought to our attention by the regulators and the betting companies. We then looked into that situation. And while there was aberrational betting, we frankly couldn’t find anything. We ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence.”
Silver added that, while Rozier cooperated with the league’s probe at the time, the FBI and federal government have far more clout and ability to compel people to cooperate than a sports league does. “We’ve been working with the government, and they have extraordinary powers that a league office doesn’t have.”
Senate has demands of NBA as well
The Senate committee asked Silver to provide, by Nov. 10:
- Documents detailing the NBA’s policies and procedures relating to sports betting, gambling or game rigging by NBA personnel
- A list of any investigations that have been conducted into NBA personnel for violating the NBA’s rules relating to gambling or game rigging since Jan. 1, 2020, and provide all related documents including findings and resultant actions
- Communications between the NBA and any sportsbook or related gambling monitoring organization regarding suspicious or flagged sports wagers
- An explanation of how the NBA has addressed and plans to further address alleged instances of gambling or game rigging
- Final reporting and findings from the NBA’s internal investigation into Rozier
Meanwhile, Silver’s responses to the House committee are due Oct. 31.
