Trail Blazers take to the court for the first time after coach Chauncey Billups' arrest

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Stunned by the arrest of head coach Chauncey Billups in a sprawling alleged poker scheme, the Portland Trail Blazers took to the court Friday night under an interim coach as they navigated an unexpectedly tumultuous start to the new season.

Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier were among those arrested Thursday for what federal law enforcement officials described as their involvement in various illicit gambling activities. Billups was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games.

The 49-year-old coach was arrested at his Lake Oswego home before dawn on Thursday, just hours after the Blazers lost their season opener at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The mood was somber in the Blazers' locker room before Friday night's game against the Golden State Warriors. Few players wanted to talk.

"It's not an easy situation. We're thinking about him and his family,” forward Deni Avdija said. “We really love Chauncey and what he's done for this organization. I don't know the details and I don't really want to get into that. I'm trying to focus on the game.”

The NBA placed Billups and Rozier on leave following their arrests and the Blazers named assistant coach and former NBA player Tiago Splitter interim head coach.

Splitter spoke to the media before the game against the Warriors and was peppered with questions about the team's mood upon learning of the arrest.

“Not great, not great. But like I said, we've got to move forward, we've a job to do," Splitter said. “We have a great opportunity in front of us to have a good season with this team and I'm excited about that.”

Portland went on to dominate the Warriors 139-119 in Splitter's debut as a head coach. The players doused him with ice water after the game.

“Just to see them smile was a great sensation,” Splitter said.

Splitter, 40, joined Billups’ staff in June. A 6-foot-11 center from Brazil, Splitter played seven years in the NBA with San Antonio, Atlanta and Philadelphia before officially retiring from basketball in 2018. He won an NBA championship in 2014 with the Spurs.

He previously served as head coach for Paris Basketball in the top French league for one season after a stint as an assistant for the Houston Rockets.

Billups' arrest came as the new season opened with positive buzz surrounding the team.

The Blazers had cultivated a core of promising young stars, including Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara. They also brought back beloved guard Damian Lillard, who played his first 11 seasons in Portland before trying unsuccessfully to chase a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons.

Beloved in Portland, Lillard wasn't expected to play this season while he rehabs an Achilles injury, but he was feted with a standing ovation at the season opener and has said he'll help mentor the team's young talent.

“I was stunned. Shocked. I think everybody was,” said fan Mitch Weaver, who was at Friday's game wearing a Trail Blazers sweatshirt. “We had Dame back. Everything was looking up.”

The uncertainty of the team's future was settled in the offseason when the estate of late owner Paul Allen struck a deal to sell the team to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, who vowed to keep the team in Portland.

Billups was charged with being involved in a poker scheme that federal officials said cheated victims out of at least $7 million. Billups was one of 31 people arrested on the poker-related charges, and some of those arrested were, according to officials, members of three Mafia families.

Last season Billups guided the team to a 36-46 record but Portland missed out on the playoffs for the fourth straight season. He signed a multi-year contract extension in April and was embarking on his fifth season with the team.

Billups had an NBA playing career that spanned 17 seasons. He won a championship with Detroit in 2004 and was named the finals MVP. A five-time All-Star, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame last October.

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Portland Trail Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter reacts to a call during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups leaves a federal court after his appearance on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Portland Trail Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter speaks during a press conference before an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)