FBI official totally bungles saying 'Toronto Raptors' in NBA gambling investigation press conference
The Toronto Raptors ended up in the middle of an FBI investigation on Thursday – at least, we think they were.
Early on Thursday morning, multiple reports broke that the FBI would be holding a 10 a.m. ET press conference that involved details around the arrest of Terry Rozier, a Portland Trail Blazers player, based on connections to a gambling ring.
According to an ESPN article with co-bylines attached to Shams Charania and David Purdum, Rozier and other defendants “had access to private information known by NBA players or NBA coaches that was likely to affect the outcome of games or players’ performances and provided that information to other coconspirators in exchange for either a flat fee or a share of betting profits.”
The investigation also covered mafia-connected, allegedly rigged, high-stakes poker games.
In the ensuing press conference, an FBI official got up on stage and told reporters about the teams involved in the scheme.
Context would lead us to believe he meant to mention the Raptors, but instead, a reference to the non-existent “Toronto Rangers” came out.
an FBI official says the alleged NBA gambling ring involves the "Toronto Rangers" (not a real team), which doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the quality of their investigation pic.twitter.com/gnWEAJcoqs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2025
There are two Rangers teams in the “Big 4” sports leagues – New York in the NHL and Texas in the MLB — but none in the NBA.
It might’ve been a simple slip of the tongue, but it didn’t stop the internet from going ahead and questioning the depth of the investigations involved.
Given that the press conference comes on the heels of the Raptors having their biggest-ever win in a season opener, it’s probably not exactly the type of news story the team expected to see this morning.
Were any Raptors players involved?
As far as has been reported, on the current roster, no.
But one of the biggest gambling scandals in modern sports history involved former Raptor Jontay Porter, who was banned from the league by commissioner Adam Silver for his involvement in a scheme believed to be connected to this one.
Porter found himself out of the NBA after he was found to have intentionally feigned injury to take himself out of games for external gamblers to place bets on his individual player props.
A former Raptors player, Chauncey Billups, who is currently the head coach of the Trail Blazers, was also arrested on Thursday.
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