**John Salley Vows Chauncey Billups Didn’t Help Rig Mob Poker Games**
John Salley is certain that Chauncey Billups did not help rig card games to make money for the mob. Speaking this week, Salley said he’s “100 percent” sure his good friend was framed.
The NBA legend was candid during an airport chat on Thursday, insisting there’s no way the suspended Portland Trail Blazers head coach knew of any illegal activity at the poker games he attended.
“You think Chauncey’s got time to make [an X-ray] table?” Salley said. “Like, ‘Hmm, we’re going to make this table and we’re going to go –?’ No. He flies into Vegas,” Salley continued. “They pay him to use his name, he’s playing poker. He gets paid to play poker. You’ll see.”
Billups was arrested last week after federal prosecutors claimed he was in cahoots with mafia families who swindled people out of millions of dollars by luring them to play in rigged poker games. Authorities alleged that Billups acted as a “Face Card” who would draw “fish” to the table, before co-conspirators deployed high-tech equipment to ensure the victims would lose.
Billups’ attorney has strongly refuted the allegations, and Salley made it clear he believes the Hall of Famer’s denial.
“I don’t think Chauncey Billups had anything — in the way they’re thinking about it, I don’t think he was compromised like that,” Salley said. “I know Chauncey’s not that kind of guy.”
https://www.tmz.com/2025/10/31/john-salley-adamant-chauncey-billups-innocent/