The bombshell arrests of Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones by the FBI have blemished what has otherwise been an incredible start to the NBA season. The games have been intense and the level of play high. But there’s no way to avoid talking about a situation that has caused the league to put one of its 30 head coaches and a 10-year vet on leave.
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It seems everyone around the league has offered their opinion on the situation. But Gilbert Arenas is one of the few people who may understand what these guys are going through. Earlier in July, he too had been woken up early in the morning and arrested for gambling-related charges.
Unlike Rozier, who allegedly manipulated NBA games, Arenas’ situation is closer to Billups’ since they both involve illegal underground poker games with ties to organized crime. Arenas was interviewed by DJ Vlad of VladTV, where he spoke about what it was like being arrested.
Gil recalled hearing a loudspeaker outside his house at 6:30 in the morning. He initially thought that his neighbors were the ones law enforcement was after because they’re ‘foreigners.’
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has been extremely active in the past few months as part of the current administration’s mass deportation efforts. This is why Arenas thought they were after his neighbors. But then he heard his own address being yelled through the loudspeaker, so he went to his balcony.
“I go on the balcony and look, and there’s f***** guns aimed, like whoa,” he said. They definitely weren’t there for his neighbors. Then he and his wife had a troubling realization.
“My wife’s French,” he said. “So she’s thinking, ‘Oh s***, ICE.'” Arenas made light of the situation by joking to her, “Yeahhhh, oh, I thought you were legal.”
Arenas recalled that he went outside to “run interference” for her, but then they put the handcuffs on him.
ICE has been in the news in recent months for rounding people up, allegedly taking people in without a warrant, while refusing to show their own identification. They’ve been accused of being a secret police with no checks on their power. So, Arenas was still under the belief that that’s what he was dealing with.
“They start putting handcuffs on,” Arenas narrated. “And I’m like, ‘No, I’m American.’ That’s all I remember saying, ’cause we thought it was ICE.”
Arenas was booked on charges of hosting an illegal gambling ring in his home, and then he was taken to a cell. The next day, he was released, at which point he posted the following video.
Im Back on the Streets ️This aint got shyt to do with me ‘ just rented the house’ Wasnt apart pic.twitter.com/ALjozzhzoY
— Gilbert Arenas (@NoChillGilZero) July 31, 2025
Arenas sure doesn’t appear worried about the charges in the video, nor did he in his interview with DJ Vlad. He has said that he simply rented his house out and had no idea that an Israeli organized crime figure was hosting illicit activities there.
Time will tell how the current situation plays out for Billups, Rozier, and Jones. ESPN’s Shams Charania said on Thursday that the NBA is waiting to see if these arrests came as a culmination of the investigations or if they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Either way, current and former NBA players are on notice to stay on the straight and narrow.
