The Heat weren’t aware that Terry Rozier was under suspicion of illegal gambling activity when they acquired him from Charlotte in January 2024, multiple sources tell Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Rozier was arrested Thursday by the FBI as part of a federal investigation into illegal sports betting, jeopardizing his basketball future and raising plenty of questions about what the move means for the team. Without action from commissioner Adam Silver, Rozier and his expiring $26.6MM salary will remain on Miami’s roster for the rest of the season.
The NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity regarding Rozier 10 months before the trade took place, but the league has a policy of not informing its teams about such matters, according to Jackson and Chiang.
No warning was given to the Heat before the league approved the trade, which sent veteran guard Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick to Charlotte, multiple sources told the authors. Their sources also said Hornets officials didn’t share information about the probe with the Heat, and Mike Cristaldi, Charlotte’s chief communications officer, refused to say whether they were aware of the allegations against Rozier.
The Heat didn’t learn that Rozier was being investigated by the NBA and FBI until it was reported by the Wall Street Journal after the trade was complete, according to the authors.
They describe the team as being in “information gathering mode” and still undecided on whether it will appeal to the league in an effort to get back the draft pick that’s now owned by the Hornets. That pick will convey to Charlotte in 2027 if the Heat reach the playoffs that season. Otherwise, it becomes unprotected in 2028.
Two spokesmen from the league office refused to explain to Jackson and Chiang why the NBA doesn’t inform all its teams when unusual betting activity is detected or whenever it opens an investigation into a player. The authors point out that having that information might have dissuaded Miami from trying to trade for Rozier.
They add that the NBA has declined to say whether Silver would consider voiding Rozier’s contract before the case is decided in federal court. The team currently can’t sign a replacement for Rozier or fill its open roster spot without moving into luxury tax territory. If Rozier were to be expelled from the NBA, the Heat would be about $28MM below the tax threshold, giving them plenty of room to sign two players and fill out their roster.
Jackson and Chiang point out that having the draft pick returned would provide a lot more flexibility in trade talks, giving Miami tradable first-rounders in 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032. The team is currently limited to trading no more than two future picks (2030 and 2032).
The NBA office denied a report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst that the league ordered Rozier to be benched after he left the game that prompted the investigation, the authors add. A league spokesman said Rozier suffered a foot injury that was confirmed by an MRI.
Heat might have a case for some sort of compensation here.
Well if it’s league policy they most likely agreed upon this policy, I dont see why they should get any compensation.
with proper information the NBA withheld, the Heat would have 26 million more in cap space in the 24-25 and 25-26 seasons… now think back about what happened with a guy named Jimmy Butler 12 months ago for me. The Heat were SCREWED in this
It’s the Hornets knowing about the probe on Rozier, and not sharing it with the Heat.
I’d compare it to a team not sharing health/injury data to another team, for a trade they’re working on.
Heat literally made the trade as a Kyle Lowry SALARY DUMP so they could save something like 15 million dollars in tax. MEANING….
Rozier’s status would have had extremely little to do with whether Miami would have made this trade.
Even with as bad as he’s been on the court they would 100% make the trade again. Ain’t like he’s been worse than Kyle Lowry over that stretch who was absolutely washed over the last 2 seasons + this one where he’s an Amazon analyst on an NBA roster?
@Real 2K …. You might have missed the part, that trading for a player with an ongoing league/federal isn’t a good move.
Had the HEAT known about the probe, the details on Rozier, they’d probably looked for another trade prospect.
Name the other players who were a good trade fit / under consideration? You can Google or just search this website. Rozier was a logical match which is why the deal happened ahead of the deadline.
The Heat got 2 years out of Rozier so the trade was fine even if they had a crystal ball to know he was getting collared.
No one is disputing that Rozier was then a good trade candidate, style-wise and contract – HEAT have always had issues with scoring.
However, I’d ask ….. how come Malik Beasley, one of the absolute best 3-point shooters the past few seasons, is still a free-agent now ?
what if the heat just let lowry walk and signed someone like… Paul George, or Pascal Siakam, or James Harden, or OG Anunoby, or DeMar DeRozan? Or traded for anyone else imaginable.. hell there was a shot the Heat could have brought back Lebron James in the summer of 2024 with that much space to work with (this was a team a year removed from a finals run)… all that AND THEY COULD HAVE EXTENDED JIMMY BUTLER WITHOUT TAX ISSUES THAT CAUSED THE DRAMA LAST YEAR!!!
None of that was possible.
Lowry had an expiring 30 mill contract… Rozier had 2 more years on his deal (expires this year)… why are you ok with the Heat being screwed out of 30-60 million dollars in cap space because of lying by omission?
Yes, Lowry had an expiring contract. Rozier being under contract was desirable because they needed someone to use that salary on. Just letting Lowry expire wouldn’t have opened up 20M in space either.
In case you haven’t noticed, free agency is rather barren these days.
My point is the Heat weren’t screwed out of anything, they traded a pick in order to bring in a better/younger player and save a substantial amount of money. The Knicks did the same thing when they traded trash + 6 firsts for Bridges. It was a routine NBA trade.
If Rozier is banned by the NBA, his cap figure comes off the books and they’ll generate a 16M exception to be used in a trade. They do not require additional compensation.
Weird because silver said they were transparent about the investigation. Somebody’s lying
The great Old school Riley didn’t know??? Hmmm.
How come the unbreakable and unwavering HEAT CULTURE couldnt identify a guy throwing games on their own team
because he didn’t “throw games on their own team” IT HAPPENED IN CHARLOTTE.. JORDAN’S TEAM
Ooooof.
If the Hornets knew about it then this trade just became legendary
That pick was to get rid of Lowry, not acquire Rozier.
It was both. They might have gone a different way(76ers) had they been informed about the investigation.
How did they not know? It happened in Jan 23. I have articles dated Jan ‘23 from major outlets. He was traded in Jan ‘24. Everybody knew 😆
please cite a single accusation against Rozier personally before the investigation was made public in late 2024…..
How did everyone know?
compensation should be the heat are given 26 million dollars in cap relief for the 2026-27 season and any luxury tax paid by the heat since trading for Rozier should be returned… my 2 cents
The irony of your statement is the whole reason Miami acquired Rozier was so they could SAVE 15 million in luxury tax payments by bringing him in (23M) for Kyle Lowry (30M).
Lowry was on an expiring contract in 23-24 (when they traded him) I said SINCE AQUIRING HIM…. please don’t gaslight
An expiring contract worth 7M more than Rozier, for a team looking to duck the tax.
what point are you making? Had the heat kept lowry and let him walk they would have had that cap space.. 30 mill as you pointed out. They didn’t get that option because information was withheld. Do you get this now?
They would not have generated 30M in cap space lol. If they were 40M over the cap and they let 30M expire, they are still 10M over the cap and don’t generate a single dollar of space to sign anyone.
Hence why the league is run by bird rights & extensions nowadays. Hope you learned something today.
So you’ve never heard of sign and trades? Are you kidding me lol
And how many S&Ts have ACTUALLY been executed in the last 2 years?
Did Kuminga, Giddey, Grimes, or Cam Thomas get a S&T this past offseason?
You’re just talking to hear yourself talk because you can’t admit to being wrong on the internet.
HOW ABOUT GIVING THEM THE OPTION AND STOP ASSUMING NEGATIVES?!?!?! THEIR CHOICES WERE TAKEN AWAY
The Heat were the ones who decided having Rozier under contract (while simultaneously saving 15M in luxury tax for 2023) was better than pursuing a no- leverage S&T with mystery free agent* in the 2024 offseason
*Who you still can’t even be bothered to name, in one of the worst FA classes of the past decade.
In another post, I named like 10 guys they could have replaced Rozier with in the same circumstance … Paul George was the most realistic fit.. but names like Harden, Siakam, OG, and others had similar contract levels to Lowry and were prime targets in the time period. Your arrogance and NBA bootlicking here is very frustrating lol.. it’s almost like you’re insinuating the Heat deserved to be screwed over.
Paul George was in the middle of an All-Star season with the Clippers and was making 46M. Meaning he was not a realistic candidate, particularly with the Heat’s goal of SHEDDING salary and ducking the tax/apron.
Acquiring a big fish would have also required parting with one of their core players, which the Heat were not willing to do (and teams had no interest in pre-All-star Herro). Their goal was to add another player on a reasonable contract (Rozier) to the core.
There is likewise no trade where they were shuffling out a washed Kyle Lowry for James ****ing Harden without giving additional draft compensation. Harden was traded to the CLIPPERS at the start of that year (meaning he WASN’T a consideration), for a significantly larger windfall of picks. He also, again, made 35M which is in the opposite direction of where the Heat wanted to head financially due to the looming APRON RESTRICTIONS coming into play that summer. Harden re-signed for 34M in free agency, whereas Rozier made 25M. The Heat finished 2.5M under the first apron. The math on this trumps whatever fleets of fancy you might have about star player targets you are imagining.
Sorry, you’re just making **** up, because like a lot of people on this website, you suffer from Cognitive Bias and can’t handle being wrong about something you “feel” strongly about.
It’s painfully obvious you’re a Heat fan and just want the team to benefit from a situation they were barely wronged in. Good luck! Their primary error was bringing in another undersized volume combo guard next to Herro to play Lowry’s 3&D role. The on-court fit was a failure, while Rozier’s neck began to limit him in what was the start of some karmic justice heading his way.
George left for Phill that summer… I WAS TALKING ABOUT SIGN AND TRADES
Yeah, and what Max level salary were the Heat sending back in S&T? Were they giving George the full max he got from a team who SIGNED HIM OUTRIGHT?
You’re living in a fantasy land where only one team matters and the other 29 teams sit idly by. The Heat were not positioned to bring in George and we can very easily go back in time on this website to see what was actually being discussed league-wide and what the actual facts were.
I imagine the Heat do their due diligence in gathering info and see if they can make a viable case for some sort of compensation whatever it may be. It is pretty messed up that it was known about and the information wasn’t shared with the Heat. Unless it was advised against sharing such information by the FBI itself as the investigation was ongoing.
Due diligence will always be insufficient, if one of the parties purposely conceals something, for valid reasons or otherwise.
The HEAT needs to be compensated somehow.
I’m with you. Unless its a literal mandate from a government based party that you cannot share such information for the sake of the investigation, you have to inform any party involved in any transaction. It just seems like horrible business to not do so. Otherwise, what is competitive balance? Just whichever franchise the NBA decides to favor? (looking at you Dallas Mavericks 2025 draft chances after trading Luka xD).
Was this a collectively bargained issue and a known policy to all teams? If so the Heat have nothing to stand on. If not, one could still argue this is also what CBA experts are for: to see what’s not explicitly stated and get clarification on that and/or explicit language added in the future. Frankly, something like this was eventually going to pop up and teams should’ve been proactively thinking about the type of consequences which could follow from it.
In any event, the Heat could still come out as winners here if Rozier’s contract is eventually voided by the league. Just a matter of timing on that front, but I do understand not wanting to void the contract of a guy not actually convicted of anything yet (not that the league has to wait until a verdict is rendered).
Arrest Silver too
Silver should be deeply disturbed about this
LOL. Entertaining thread. Of course, the league isn’t a party to any deal between two teams. Their review is limited to compliance with the CBA. So, they wouldn’t and couldn’t assume any obligation to either team in a deal.
As far as CHA, MIA could have asked for whatever conditions they wanted to ask for, but they’d have to confirm their satisfaction or not prior to submitting the deal to the league. The only permitted condition subsequent that can vitiate a deal is a failed physical.
this is completely wrong, but it’s a cute attempt
Nope, it’s all correct. I’m not sure what’s bouncing around that tiny mind of yours, but since you can’t articulate it, so it’s of no moment.
which is why Chris Paul played years for the Lakers.. and lets never forget those late 90’s glory years of Juwan Howard on the Miami Heat right?… Right?
They didn’t know cause they bet the OVER …. Lols