Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones is at the center of a major sports gambling scandal, with a court filing revealing he is expected to plead guilty to related charges. The case has sent shockwaves through the elite levels of U.S. basketball.

The 49-year-old is accused of being part of a scheme that, between December 2022 and March 2024, allegedly provided bettors with confidential information on player injuries and absences. In a particularly notable allegation, prosecutors claim Jones shared that LeBron James would miss a Los Angeles Lakers game against the Milwaukee Bucks before that news was publicly announced.

After initially denying the charges, Jones is now set to change his plea at a hearing scheduled for April 28 in New York City. He becomes the first of six defendants in this case—a group that includes Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier—to signal a guilty plea.

Complicating matters further, Jones faces charges in a second, separate case involving a national network of mafia-linked, rigged poker games. He has pleaded not guilty in that matter, which involves around 30 people and the alleged use of sophisticated cheating equipment like X-ray tables.

Jones had an 11-team journeyman NBA career, most notably playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2008 alongside LeBron James. He later transitioned to coaching, rejoining the Cavaliers as an assistant from 2016 to 2018 during James's return to Cleveland. More recently, he served as James's personal coach during the 2022-2023 season after the superstar's move to the Lakers.