Trail Blazers reach playoffs after Chauncey Billups gambling probe shock

Portland reached the playoffs with a 114-110 play-in win over the Phoenix Suns, a result driven by Deni Avdija’s 41 points and made more striking by the scandal that hit the franchise before the first week of the season had settled.

The Blazers’ path to the postseason began with a shock that spread far beyond basketball. Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, hours after Portland’s season-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The team immediately placed Billups on leave and named Tiago Splitter interim coach, saying it was “fully cooperating” with the investigation. The federal case centered on alleged illegal poker games tied to organized crime, and prosecutors later set a Nov. 24, 2025 court date for Billups in Brooklyn. In the locker room, general manager Joe Cronin gathered the players to break the news, and veterans such as Jrue Holiday were left trying to process the shock while still preparing to play.

The timing amplified the damage. Portland had signed Billups to a multiyear extension on April 13, 2025, after he compiled a 116-211 record in his first four seasons with the club. The Blazers were coming off a 36-46 finish in 2024-25, their fourth straight season without a playoff berth, and had not won a playoff series since 2019. Their last playoff appearance before this spring came in 2021. Instead of a clean reset, the franchise spent the fall balancing on-court survival with a federal probe that became part of the team’s daily reality.

Splitter, a former NBA player and 2014 champion with the San Antonio Spurs, had joined Portland in June 2025 and suddenly found himself in his first NBA head-coaching job under extraordinary pressure. The roster kept playing through the turbulence, and Portland’s late-season push carried the team to Phoenix, where the Blazers closed out the Suns on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Avdija’s 41-point night gave Portland the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

The playoffs begin April 18, 2026, and Portland will meet the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs in the first round. The win gives the Blazers a much-needed lift after five years without postseason basketball, but it does not soften the meaning of the season’s opening scandal. Portland’s return is a reminder that success can change the mood around misconduct, yet it cannot erase the seriousness of an FBI probe that has already altered the franchise’s story.