The NBA is not sure how long the various investigations and legal processes surrounding gambling charges faced by Miami guard Terry Rozier, Portland coach and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Chauncey Billups and others will take to be completed, Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday.
But the league will look into the possibility of giving Miami some sort of “satisfactory relief,” Silver added, though he stopped short of saying such a move would be possible.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” Silver said.
It’s a multi-layered issue for the league and the Heat, given that Rozier’s $26.6 million salary takes up about 17% of the team’s cap space — and that the team still owes Charlotte a first-round pick in either 2027 or 2028 to satisfy the terms of the trade that brought Rozier to Miami.
Rozier pleaded not guilty earlier this month to wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges stemming from accusations that he helped some friends win bets that revolved around his statistical performance in a game played in March 2023, when he was with Charlotte. Rozier is free on $3 million bond and isn’t expected back in court until March, and he remains on unpaid leave from the Heat.
Prosecutors say Rozier informed the bettors that he intended to leave the game against the New Orleans Pelicans early with a supposed injury, allowing gamblers to place wagers earning them tens of thousands of dollars. Rozier played the first nine minutes and 36 seconds of the game before leaving, citing a foot issue. He did not play again that season and was subsequently traded to the Heat.
Rozier isn’t receiving his pay, but his salary is still on the Heat’s books and is being sent to an interest-bearing account pending resolution of his case or some other agreement.
“We’re going to try to work something through, work this out with them,” Silver said. “But there’s no obvious solution here. I would just say that there’s no doubt at the moment they have a player that can’t perform services for them. … Obviously, he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet either — but this is an unfortunate circumstance. Sometimes there’s these unique events and maybe sometimes they require a unique solution.”
Billups also pleaded not guilty last month to charges related to a separate scheme to fix high-stakes, Mafia-backed poker games. Rozier, Billups and former NBA guard Damon Jones were among more than 30 people — including several Mafia figures — arrested in October as part of a sprawling federal takedown of illegal gambling operations linked to pro sports.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
