Terry Rozier is stuck in litigation over his alleged involvement in the betting scandal that was unraveled in October, 2025 by the FBI. Subsequently, his contract with the Miami Heat came into question as they waived him in February due to his apparent involvement in the situation.
After an initial round of arbitration, it was ruled that the Heat must still pay Terry Rozier his full salary, earlier this year. But the league and the Heat immediately refused to make the payment and prompted a second round of arbitration.
Following Rozier’s pleading not guilty in the federal proceedings, the second round of arbitration has now reportedly resulted in the ruling that Rozier was in violation of his contract with the Heat, which means he must forfeit his $26.6 million salary for 2025-26.
During a motion seeking to change the release conditions of Terry Rozier so that he can contact the Charlotte Hornets during free agency, it was revealed that, in late May, an arbitrator decided that, despite Rozier pleading not guilty in the proceedings, he violated his contract.
As a part of the terms of his release, Rozier was not allowed to contact anyone from the Heat or the Hornets, rendering him unable to play for the Heat at that time. Hence, the arbitrator ruled that his acceptance of these conditions for his release put him in violation of his agreement with the Heat, so he is not entitled to his salary for 2025-26 anymore.
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, asked in a court filing to remove both teams from the list of entities he could not contact during his release. While the court agreed to do so for the Heat, they declined for the Hornets.
“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 argued in the filing.
In October, Rozier entered a not guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Additional charges, including conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and sports bribery, were filed by federal prosecutors last week.
A federal grand jury in Brooklyn returned the superseding indictment, which claims that Rozier accepted a $100,000 bribe in exchange for informing a group of bettors about his intention to leave a game early in March 2023 due to an injury sustained while playing for the Hornets.
According to Trusty, Rozier will enter a not guilty plea when he is arraigned on the new charges next week.
