charlotte hornets Sending a 2026 second-round draft pick to Miami Heat to resolve a dispute terry rosier There is an ongoing NBA and federal investigation into an alleged gambling conspiracy surrounding the teams’ trade in 2024, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in December that the league would look into the possibility of granting Miami some type of “satisfying relief” because Rozier currently cannot play.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” Silver said at the time.
This was a multilayered issue for the league and the Heat, given that Rozier’s $26.6 million salary was about 17% of the team’s cap space — and the team still has to pay the Hornets’ first-round pick in 2027 or 2028 to meet the terms of the trade that brought Rozier to Miami. It is unclear who knew that Rozier was under federal investigation when the Heat made the trade with the Hornets.
Rozier pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
Federal prosecutors allege Rozier told a colleague he would recuse himself at the start of a March 2023 game while he was with the Hornets. Rozier’s associate then allegedly sold the information to gamblers, who bet more than $200,000 on Rozier’s stats in the game.
a mediator in february Ruling in favor of Rozier Sources told ESPN that the salary dispute with the NBA arose after he pleaded guilty in a gambling investigation.
The Heat and the NBA agreed to put Rozier’s salary for the 2025–26 season into escrow after Rozier was arrested and pleaded guilty in October as part of a federal gambling investigation that also led to charges against him. portland trail blazers Coach Chauncey Billups.
The NBPA appealed the settlement to freeze his salary, which is approximately $26.6 million.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and David Purdum contributed to this report.
