Fallout from the shocking arrests of Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups — as well as more than 30 others, including people with ties to East Coast organized crime families — tied to two federal indictments continues to be THE topic of discussion around the league. Here is some of the latest news tied to the indictments.
NBA sends memo to teams, reviewing injury reporting policies
At the heart of the illegal gambling indictment is knowledge about injuries. Here is the heart of the federal indictment:
“Prior to the Hornets’ March 23, 2023 game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Rozier informed the defendant Deniro Laster that Rozier was going to prematurely remove himself from the game in the first quarter due to a supposed injury and not return to play further. Rozier provided this information to Laster for the purpose of enabling Laster to place wagers based on this information.”
The NBA investigated this situation and found that Rozier did have a legitimate foot injury, one that kept him out of the remaining eight games of the season (the league also did not find sufficient evidence to fine or suspend him). The indictment calls it a “supposed” injury, but could it be a case where Rozier knew he had a foot injury and convinced the Hornets to let him play? Did he just tell an old friend — Rozier and Laster have a long relationship — he was hurting, or was this planned, like the indictment says? Rozier’s attorney sent a statement to NBC Sports saying his client “is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight” and denied the charges. All of this will come out as the case moves through the court system.
One key for the league: Rozier was not on the injury report before the game in question. In the wake of all those questions, the NBA sent out a memo to its teams this week on the topic, something first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN. In it, the league discusses legislation and regulation — likely targeting prop bets — and injury reporting by teams. From the NBA memo:
“While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier’s ‘unders’ in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done from a legal/regulatory perspective to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny...
“We have also begun a process of reviewing league policies regarding injury reporting, the training and education of all NBA personnel, and safety measures for NBA players. With sports betting now occupying such a significant part of the current sports landscape, every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches, and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods; that our injury disclosure rules are appropriate; and that players are protected from harassment from bettors.”
Harassment — usually online, but sometimes in person — from betters who lost out on a prop bet and/or parlay is something every player in the league has dealt with. It’s an issue the players’ union will want addressed through all of this. However, finding ways to deal with that — and putting the genie back in the bottle on prop bets — likely will defy easy answers.
There are no easy answers when it comes to injury reporting, either. Sometimes players really are a game-time decision, but some teams have used that as a shield, calling a player with an injury that will keep him out weeks “day-to-day” and not announcing he is out until 30 minutes before the tip. There is not a lot of transparency, but none of that would have changed another situation similar to the alleged Rozier one — if a player says he is hurt, the training staff has to trust him.
Rozier, Billups not getting paid
Despite speculation to the contrary, Rozier is not being paid while on “leave of absence” from the Heat (things are the same with Chauncey Billups in Portland).
The league reportedly is setting up an escrow fund for each, with their pay remaining on hold until the legal situation is resolved. If cleared, each would get their pay, if not the money goes back to the team.
Draymond Green defends Adam Silver
In the wake of the gambling scandal, there has been criticism of Adam Silver for speaking out of both sides of his mouth — the league is taking money from gambling companies as sponsors, then saying some of the key ways those companies make money (prop bets in particular) need to be regulated. One guy in Silver’s corner: Draymond Green. From “The Draymond Green Show” podcast:
“You go to any sport, any organization, anything, there’s bad apples everywhere, but let’s not try to act like Adam Silver has just built this league that does not care about people gambling. And because there’s a Fanatics sportsbook, a DraftKings, a FanDuel sponsorship, that Adam just doesn’t care about players gambling. Like, stop the b*******. Cut it out. We watch these gambling videos every year. They’re on top of this stuff.”
Rozier’s tax debt
Terry Rozier was set to make $26.6 million this season and has earned than $160 million in career earnings, which begs a simple question: Why is a guy who has made that much risking his career allegedly working with known gamblers for what likely was, at best, a couple hundred thousand dollars?
This may be the motivation: Rozier faced $8.2 million tax lien from the IRS in 2023, at the time of these alleged incidents, according to an ESPN report.
It may not be — and again, Rozier has denied any wrongdoing and plans to fight the charges — but it will be part of the story.
What did Hornets know before trade?
A couple of weeks before the 2024 NBA trade deadline, the Hornets traded Rozier to the Heat for Kyle Lowry and a 2027 first-round draft pick. Miami hoped he would be the final piece, another shot creator scoring 20+ points a game who could help Miami return to the NBA Finals (it didn’t work out that way, with a neck injury keeping Rozier out of those playoffs and a Heat first-round exit).
At the time of the trade, the NBA was investigating unusual betting patterns around Rozier’s March 23, 2023 game, but the league did not inform the Heat of the investigation or that the FBI was also looking into it, reports the Miami Herald. There were no red flags. It’s unclear whether the Charlotte Hornets knew at the time of the trade.
If Charlotte knew and didn’t disclose this information to Miami, could Adam Silver force the Hornets to give Miami that 2027 pick back? Technically, although the more likely outcome would be the Hornets getting to keep that pick and the Heat getting a compensatory pick (making it a 31-pick first round).
We’re a long way from that happening, but it’s being discussed in league circles.
