NBA player Terry Rozier is under federal investigation for suspicious betting patterns surrounding a 2023 game, the league confirmed Thursday.
Rozier, 30, has not been charged with a crime, the Wall Street Journal reported. His case is connected to the same betting ring that snared former NBA player Jontay Porter, who was banned from the league for life.
The NBA investigated the Rozier situation shortly after the game in question was played on March 23, 2023, and found no wrongdoing, according to a league spokesman.
“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,” NBA spokesman Mike Boss said.
At the time, Rozier was playing with the Charlotte Hornets against the New Orleans Pelicans. He played for the first nine minutes of the game then left with a foot injury after recording five points, four rebounds and two assists. Rozier missed the final eight games of the season with that injury.
Because of Rozier’s early exit, anyone betting on Rozier to finish under certain stat thresholds won their bet. Rozier did not appear on the Hornets’ injury report before the game.
The case is similar to that of Porter, who advised co-conspirators to make similar bets, then removed himself from games with injuries that weren’t reported beforehand, according to federal investigators.
Ahead of the Hornets-Pelicans game, several sportsbooks removed bets pertaining to Rozier, which was noted by avid bettors on social media.
One man posted, “Got lucky that I was fed some inside info that Rozier was leaving in the first or second quarter (depending on game flow and live lines) so that his unders would hit.”
The man posted a screenshot of a betting slip for Rozier to record fewer than 6.5 assists, which paid him $222 on a $122 bet.
Rozier, now a member of the Miami Heat, is currently in the third year of a four-year, $96 million contract. Porter, on the other hand, made a total of slightly more than $2 million during his time in the league.