The NBA is having a great season so far on the court, with nearly 87 million viewers having already tuned in to watch, the highest in roughly 15 years. Yet, 2025 has been marred by its lows as constant controversies have come to light. Commissioner Adam Silver has seemingly tried his best to clear the image, but the issues don’t stop. Hall of Famers, future Hall of Famers, and even All-Star players’ names have come out. In no particular order, we go through these names and scandals that rocked the NBA fans this year.

Gambling case

We were just three days into the 2025-26 NBA, and several high-profile names were arrested. After the FBI’s two years of effort, they exposed the NBA Gambling Scandal. The investigation across 11 states led to over 30 arrests, and the federal government named four NBA players and coaches: Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, Jontay Porter, and Terry Rozier. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that it was connected to gamblers who allegedly placed the illegal bets and also allegedly rigged the card games.

Additionally, it is even tied to the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese crime families. This case exposed a nationwide rigged poker scheme where the authorities reported acts of violence. The Trailblazers’ former head coach, Billups, has been accused of joining a rigged poker game in Las Vegas in 2019 and drawing in high-stakes players. Prosecutors even alleged the Hall of Famer received $50,000 for a second rigged game in 2020.

The probe also involves former Raptors forward Jontay Porter, who pleaded guilty last year. He owed large gambling debts and agreed to remove himself from two NBA games early. Thus, his injury provided profits as one man bet $80,000 on a parlay tied to Porter and won $1.1 million. Plus, Porter even bet on NBA games, a violation of league rules.

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Malik Beasley, previously investigated for gambling-related misconduct with the Milwaukee Bucks, remains under scrutiny. But he has not been charged yet. Authorities have also charged former NBA player and Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones, accusing him of leaking confidential team data that bettors used for an unfair advantage.

Jones apparently used his access to the Lakers as LeBron James’ shooting assistant to sell private injury information to bettors. Plus, he was with Billups for the rigged poker game in Las Vegas in 2019. Lastly, it’s Terry Rozier, who is at the center of scrutiny for a March 23, 2023, game between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans. At first, the league cleared him, but in October, the FBI charged him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

He allegedly told co-defendant Deniro Laster he’d pull himself early from a game against the Pelicans. Over $260,000 in “under” bets were placed; Rozier exited after 10 minutes. Laster and Rozier allegedly met in Charlotte to count cash winnings from the Pelicans game. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver publicly addressed the scandal, calling the allegations “deeply disturbing.”

Kawhi Leonard Contract Controversy

Before the betting scandal, Silver had his hands full with the Clippers and Leonard controversy. Since his blockbuster move to LA in 2019, the team has won three playoff series. But the Clippers have faced two separate lawsuits alleging tampering violations involving Leonard, one of which remains ongoing. Moreover, they have been fined at least twice by the NBA for violations of league rules involving Leonard. So, signing Kawhi Leonard has brought more bad press.

The recent case is another such case. Journalist Pablo Torre alleged that Aspiration, a company in which Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had invested, paid Kawhi Leonard $28 million. This was to circumvent the salary cap and avoid the luxury tax. The Leonards’ supposed ‘no-show’ deal with a now-defunct company called Aspiration was reportedly a sham endorsement deal. Reports suggested the owner of a $7.5 billion franchise was a party to this alleged fraud.

But Steve Ballmer, on the other hand, claimed he was a victim of investor fraud as Aspiration went bankrupt. On Sept. 11, just days into the NBA’s investigation, Torre reported that Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong, Ballmer’s former college roommate at Harvard, invested $1.99 million in Aspiration in December of 2022, just nine days before the company made a $1.75 million payment to Leonard.

So, it’s trouble both on and off the court. Before this season started, Kawhi Leonard had played in only 58% of the games. He has crossed the 60-game mark only once over the last seven seasons. For now, Leonard remains under contract for two more seasons. The Clippers don’t control their first-round pick in the next four years.

Was the Luka Doncic trade a conspiracy?

It’s been 10 months, but Luka Doncic wearing a Purple and Gold jersey still feels surreal. The decision to trade the Mavs franchise cornerstone was pulled out of nowhere. The then GM, Nico Harrison, said trading for Anthony Davis provides them with a defense-first approach, and defenses win championships. Soon after this, chants of ‘Firo Nico’ were heard at every home game. More misery poured in as the Mavs lost in the second play-in game, ending their campaign.

But luckily, they secured the #1 pick in the 2025 draft despite having the fourth-lowest odds and just a 1.8% chance. Yes, they later drafted a generational player in Cooper Flagg. So, at the end of it, the Lakers secured another superstar in Luka Doncic, who will have the keys to the post-LeBron James era. Meanwhile, Dallas found their poster boy in Cooper Flagg. Thus, the question of the league being unfairly involved came into the picture.

Even LeBron James hinted at the malpractice on the Pat McAfee show. “Listen, man, during the ball drop in the lottery, Cleveland got the number one pick? What a coincidence. Let’s keep LeBron home. Patrick Ewing to the Knicks. Derrick Rose to the Bulls. I understand the assignment, guys.”

Even Shaquille O’Neal revealed a similar situation that happened with him under then-commissioner David Stern. “I met Mr. Stern in March, and he says to me, ‘Hey, I know who you are. Can’t wait for you to come to the NBA.’ Then he pulls me to the side. ‘You want to play where it’s cold or where it’s hot?‘ I was like, ‘hot.’ And he smiled, and I smiled. And then a couple of days later, they had the draft thing.”

For Shaq, at the time, the move did not raise concern because the Magic came into the draft with the second-worst record. Orlando had the second-best odds of 15.5% and got the top spot. Yet, the line of questioning pours fuel on more conspiracy theories.

Chris Paul-Clippers Split

What was supposed to be a farewell year turned into heartbreak for CP3. There was no controversy, no injury, but just like that, Paul can’t find himself on any roster. The Point God is undoubtedly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, players in Clippers history. He earned five All-Star nods in six seasons with the team between 2011 and 2017. However, this recent stint with the franchise will remain as a blot on an otherwise illustrious association. How did it go wrong so quickly?

The 40-year-old reportedly had clashes with various members of the organization, including head coach Tyronn Lue and “especially” assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy. At first, Paul’s role was that of a veteran who would play limited minutes, and he was okay with that. But he wanted to be an “extension of the coaching staff,” which turned out to be a problem.

One of the prominent issues that CP3 raised was the role of Leonard, who was just returning from an injury. Being under minute restriction, he was tasked to guard Mavs star Klay Thompson, who is generally known for his off-the-ball movement. Paul raised this with the coaching staff, but they didn’t appreciate it. He was later accused of changing coverage without approval. The team was already under scrutiny with a 6-20 record this season, and they didn’t know how to react to the Chris Paul situation.

So, they decided it had reached a breaking point and informed Paul he was being sent home as the sides moved toward a separation. Chris Paul came up with an Instagram post revealing the news to the world on December 3, where he mentioned he was ‘sent back’ home by the Clippers. The news broke out like wildfire, and the entire fraternity was extremely critical of the Clippers’ front office and coaching staff.

LeBron James’s beef with Stephen A. Smith

The Lakers superstar, who opted in to his $52.6 million contract, vs the media legend, who signed for over $100 million for five years. There was always an undercurrent when Stephen A. Smith spoke about LeBron James. The ESPN analyst is a Michael Jordan fan. But we saw a side of them which we had never seen before. During the game between the New York Knicks and LA Lakers on March 6, LeBron confronted Smith courtside. “Keep my son out of this sh*t bro,” according to multiple reports.

This was just the beginning of the drama. A few days later, Smith called LeBron’s confrontation “weak” and claimed he would’ve “thrown hands” if touched. It all started when the ESPN analyst said Bronny James was only on the Lakers due to his father. In a new interview with ESPN, LeBron said he has no issues with criticism of a player’s performance but couldn’t tolerate personal attacks.

“But when you take it and get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household but protect the players.” He felt Stephen “missed the whole point,” and he would never stop people from criticising players. Later, the Lakers superstar even said Smith was on a ‘Taylor Swift type run’ since the ESPN analyst appeared on multiple podcasts addressing the issue.

Later, Smith even called LeBron James a liar. “He hoodwinked you all into thinking that he was upset about criticism of his son.” Stephen insisted his criticism was always professional and accused LeBron of “a lot of shady stuff.”