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Terry Rozier was in a Brooklyn Court earlier this month. It was his first public appearance since being one of 30 different people arrested by the FBI for a far-reaching betting scandal.
The long-time NBA guard pleaded not guilty to federal wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges during an arraignment in Brooklyn federal court. He was released on a $3 million bond secured by two properties and ordered to avoid gambling entirely, surrender his passport, and restrict travel to Florida, Ohio, and New York.
In case you missed it, it’s being alleged that Rozier conspired with a friend to rig his performance in a game in 2023 — when he was a member of the Hornets, not the Heat (his current team). Prosecutors say that Rozier purposely faked an injury in order to go “under” on his stat prop, something he told friends ahead of time to bet.
The friends wagered (and won) $200,000 of this insider tip, the allegations say. The unusually high NBA betting activity on a role player like Rozier triggered compliance teams at top sports betting apps, which led to the investigation and subsequent arrest.
With the not guilty plea, Rozier is firmly denying any wrongdoing. For what it’s worth, the NBA also said Rozier did no wrong when it independently investigated the incident a year ago. But there lies the problem: can the NBA be faithful actors when it’s in bed with the legal sports betting industry? That’s the chief question we want to focus on in this article so stick with us.
Where The NBA Fits Into This Mess?
When we say the NBA is in bed with betting, we mean it. The league has official sportsbook partners. So do teams throughout the league. Collectively, these gambling deals are worth billions of dollars in the long run. Outside of TV contracts, this revenue is among the highest that the league and teams garner.
So yes, it’s in their interest that illegal betting doesn’t become a problem. Not just to protect revenue, but also integrity in the game. After all, it was NBA commissioner Adam Silver who got the ball rolling in legalized betting. In 2014, he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, pushing for legalization. No other league was doing it at the time, and Silver was four years ahead of the Supreme Court, which lifted the federal ban in 2018.
Now going back to the NBA’s own investigation that we brought up. After Rozier’s arrest in October, the NBA clarified it never “cleared” him, only that its review didn’t uncover wrongdoing. Reports came out saying the league was not aware that the feds were doing a probe of their own during this time.
That information, if accurate, doesn’t reflect well on the NBA. Because it means the league either didn’t see the full picture or didn’t have access to it. Neither option inspires much confidence and makes the league look awfully ignorant.
Did Charlotte Know More Than It Said?
This is where things get uncomfortable for the league. Charlotte traded Rozier to Miami in January 2024 for Kyle Lowry (a solid player) and a 2027 lottery-protected first-round pick. This would’ve been nine months after the alleged incident. According to league sources, the Heat were not informed of any ongoing investigation at the time of the deal. Obviously, if they had known, they would’ve never done the trade.
The Heat reportedly learned about the probe a full year later when The Wall Street Journal broke the story. No one in the NBA mentioned anything to them until then. Again, was the NBA just that ignorant of the issue or… did they try to sweep the scandal under the rug?
The Hornets have declined to comment on whether they were aware of the NBA’s investigation before the trade was made. But they haven’t denied knowing, which to us, is the big tell here. Personally, we’d be shocked if they were unaware, but for what it’s worth, reports say NBA insiders are split on whether Charlotte was clued in before dealing Rozier.
Either way, this trade now looks like a textbook gray-area disaster that could blow the lid off the way the league handles transactions.
Will The NBA Change Trade Disclosure Rules?
NBA rules require teams to disclose medical, contractual, and insurance information during trade calls, along with anything that would prevent a player from playing. They also prohibit teams from withholding “material information.” What counts as material, though, has never been clearly defined — and that’s the problem.
ESPN put out an insider report on the issue at hand. In it, several executives, speaking anonymously, said this case could push the league to revisit its disclosure rules, especially as gambling investigations become more and more common (NBA head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested the same day as Rozier). Others warned against it, noting the risk of punishing players and teams over probes that never lead to discipline.
The league has tightened injury-reporting standards before. It may now be forced to do the same with off-court investigations, whether it wants to or not.
Beyond Rozier’s innocence or guilt, that’s the story to watch here. The NBA almost has to make a change here. The optics of not doing anything would just be too bad, but we’ll wait and see.
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