The illegal gambling scandal that rocked the NBA on Thursday is only just beginning. Heat guard Terry Rozier and Blazers coach Chauncey Billups were arrested by the FBI for playing a role in a mammoth illegal poker ring, which allegedly collaborated with New York crime families to fix poker games.
It’s easy to forget that before these arrests took place Rozier was was already under investigation for a sports gambling scheme connected to a 2023 game when he was with the Charlotte Hornets. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst is alleging that the NBA knew about Rozier’s potential involvement in the scheme prior to the federal investigation, and helped cover it up.
If we go back to that 2022-23 season with the Hornets it’s fascinating to look at what led up to the March 23rd game in question against the New Orleans Pelicans. This was his most prolific season as a scorer thus far, averaging 21.1 points per game in LaMelo Ball’s absence due to injury. Rozier had become the Hornets’ top scorer, their most important player, and in the weeks leading up to the Pelicans game he had nine 20+ point outings in ten games.
Windhorst alleges that sports books made the NBA aware that hundreds of thousands of dollars were being bet on Terry Rozier unders for the Hornets-Pelicans game, a meaningless contest between two non-playoff teams. Then, nine minutes into the game, Rozier suffered a mysterious ankle injury which benched him for the remainder of the season. Windhorst goes on to say that this was a faked injury, designed by the league to pull Rozier out for the rest of the season due to the betting controversy — a shadow suspension, if you will.
This critically allowed Rozier to avoid an actual suspension. The NBA allowed Rozier to keep playing, even after details of the investigation emerged. The league’s justification was that Rozier hadn’t been charged with any crime, so he could stay on the floor.
Now people are pouring over old Rozier game tapes looking for the kind of bad decision making no NBA-caliber player would make, and it’s everywhere.
When Rozier was with the Hornets in 2023-24 he was averaging 23.2 points, on .459 shooting. After being traded to the Heat he plummeted to 16.4 points, shooting .423 from the field, which only got worse the following season when his shooting dropped again to .391 and his three-point shooting dropped below .300 for the first time since his rookie year.
The arrests on Thursday appear to only be the tip of the iceberg, and this is going to get much, much worse before it gets better.