Indicted NBA free agent Terry Rozier must forfeit his $26.6 million 2025-26 season salary for violating his contract with the Miami Heat, an arbitrator has ruled.
The 32-year-old guard was arrested in October on federal gambling charges. After pleading not guilty to counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, he was hit with additional charges last month for allegedly accepting a bribe to remove himself from a game in 2023.
Rozier remains free on $3 million bond, but was forced to miss the 2025-26 season after the NBA placed him on leave in the wake of his indictment.
Late last month, an arbitrator decided the former Louisville guard breached his contract due to the conditions of his pretrial release. In addition to travel restrictions, Rozier was barred from contacting the Heat or his previous team, the Charlotte Hornets, as well as any players, coaches or staff working with those organizations.
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, revealed the arbiter’s decision in a motion filed Wednesday and reviewed by The Daily Mail.
Earlier this year, an arbitrator ruled that Rozier should be paid his full salary, but according to Trusty’s filing, the Heat never made any payments to his client. Instead, a second round of arbitration began in early April, which resulted in a ruling favoring the team, Trusty wrote.
Indicted NBA free agent Terry Rozier must forfeit his $26.6 million salary for the 2025-26 season for violating his contract with the Miami Heat, an arbitrator has ruled
Federal prosecutors have removed Heat from Rozier’s no-contact list, but he is still barred from having any contact with the Hornets.
Trusty has asked the presiding judge to remove the Hornets from the list, arguing it would hinder Rozier’s efforts to be signed as a free agent.
‘Under the current ruling of the arbitrator, an inability to play for or against the Charlotte Hornets would constitute a ‘failure to perform services’ by Mr. Rozier and substantially diminish or eliminate any chance of being contracted by an NBA team,’ Trusty wrote.
Rozier was waived by the Heat in April. He is scheduled to be arraigned next week on the new charges, but plans to plead not guilty.
Those new charges are based on the allegation that Rozier asked for a $100,000 bribe from a group of gamblers, whom he informed of his plan to remove himself from a March 2023 game with a supposed injury.
Rozier was owed $26.6million by the Heat, but an arbitrator has since ruled that he was in violation of his contract. Rozier’s attorney has blamed the conditions of his pre-trial release
Rozier’s October arrest stemmed from his alleged actions during a 2023 game against the New Orleans Pelicans, while he was still a member of the Hornets.
Federal investigators claim a bettor placed a substantial $14,000 bet on Rozier’s ‘unders’ just moments before the game was scheduled to tip off, effectively wagering that the journeyman guard would fail to reach certain statistical benchmarks.
Rozier subsequently left that contest after playing only nine minutes, citing a foot injury, which allowed the suspicious wagers to pay out in full.
The FBI further alleged that Rozier tipped off a friend, Deniro Laster, who then reportedly sold that insider information to other bettors for roughly $100,000.
