Some folks may remember that former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was handed a lifetime ban from the NBA last year after an investigation uncovered that he violated league rules on gambling.
Now, another NBA player is embroiled in a gambling controversy, and that player just so happens to be Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier. Rozier is under investigation to see whether he manipulated his play “as part of an illegal sports betting scheme” during a game when he was still with the Charlotte Hornets.
“Federal prosecutors have been investigating whether veteran NBA player Terry Rozier manipulated his performance as part of an illegal sports betting scheme,” Jared Diamond, Louise Radnofsky and Robert O’Connell wrote for the Wall Street Journal.
“The inquiry into Rozier is part of a wider government probe into a sprawling ring of gamblers and poker players who have allegedly rigged games across the sports landscape, people familiar with the matter said. The same investigation has already led to a criminal charge and a lifetime ban from the NBA for former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter.
“Authorities believe some of the people who arranged for Porter to fix his performance in two games last season had inside information that prompted them to bet large sums of money against Rozier a year earlier.
“The emergence of suspicious betting activity on another NBA game demonstrates that the scheme that resulted in Porter’s expulsion—and the government’s investigation—is more expansive than was previously known.”
Rozier has yet to face any sort of punishment and hasn’t been accused of anything. It isn’t known at this time if Rozier was knowingly aiding bettors.
League spokesman Mike Bass released a statement on the matter and indicated that the NBA was informed of unusual betting activity in a game between the Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans back in 2023. The league then launched an investigation but didn’t find a violation of NBA rules.
“In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” Bass said, as relayed by Ira Winderman on X. “The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.”
Allegedly, U.S. Integrity informed the NBA and sportsbooks that there were numerous unusual wagers on Rozier — who was a productive player with the Hornets — to fail to meet certain benchmarks in a game on March 23 of 2023.
“The game in question took place on March 23, 2023, when Rozier was a member of the Charlotte Hornets,” Diamond, Radnofsky and O’Connell wrote. “The betting on Rozier was strange enough that day to raise alarms at U.S. Integrity, a firm that works with sports entities, gambling operators and government agencies to monitor betting markets for suspicious activity.
“U.S. Integrity notified sportsbooks—and the NBA—that unusual wagers were coming in on Rozier failing to meet certain statistical benchmarks, such as the total number of points or rebounds he would record in the game. Some of the sportsbooks stopped accepting bets on Rozier’s stats that day, people familiar with the matter said.
“During the previous two seasons, U.S. Integrity sent out just three alerts about NBA games, people familiar with the matter said. Two of those were about games involving Porter. The other was the game involving Rozier.”
Rozier got the start for the Hornets in that contest but only logged around 10 minutes of action before he was subbed out during a timeout.
The guard then sat out the remainder of the contest with a foot injury and was sidelined for Charlotte’s final eight games of the 2022-23 regular season.
Rozier hasn’t been playing his best basketball so far in his first full season as a member of the Heat. He’s averaging 11.9 points per game while shooting only 40.4 percent from the field and 28.8 percent from 3-point range. This has been Rozier’s lowest scoring season since the 2018-19 campaign when he served largely as a bench player with the Boston Celtics.
After the harsh punishment that Porter received for his apparent role in illegal betting, the situation involving Rozier is now an important one to follow.