NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media before the Emirates NBA Cup Championship game between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks at T-Mobile Arena on December 16, 2025 in Las Vegas. Ethan Miller Getty Images
NBA commissioner Adam Silver admits there’s still no obvious solution for the Miami Heat in the Terry Rozier situation.
While the Heat was not made aware of the unusual betting activity involving Rozier before trading for the veteran guard in January 2024, the Heat has yet not received any type of relief in the wake of Rozier’s October arrest stemming from a federal investigation into illegal gambling.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” Silver said during a press conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday night ahead of the NBA Cup’s championship game between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs. “And I think I’m incredibly sympathetic to the Heat and to their fans. But I think we’re going to try to work something through, work this out with them. But there’s no obvious solution here.”
The NBA was alerted to the unusual betting activity 10 months before the Heat traded Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Rozier in January 2024, but the league did not inform the Heat (or other teams) of that red flag in the months that followed. The NBA went on to clear Rozier in its own investigation of him before a federal investigation later ended with his arrest.
The Hornets also did not inform the Heat, sources said. The Hornets have declined to comment when asked if they knew of the NBA’s investigation at the time of the trade, whether they had any knowledge of sportsbooks flagging bets involving Rozier and why they did not inform the Heat if they did know.
The Heat, in fact, was unaware that Rozier was the subject of separate NBA and FBI investigations until the Wall Street Journal broke the story this past January.
But there remains little clarity regarding what recourse the Heat may have in the Rozier situation.
It still remains to be seen if the Heat would attempt to recoup the first-round pick that it sent to the Hornets in the trade for Rozier.
That pick will convey to the Hornets in 2027 if the Heat makes the playoffs next season. If the Heat misses the playoffs next season, then Charlotte would receive Miami’s 2028 first-round pick regardless of where it falls in the first round.
If the Heat hadn’t traded a future first-round pick to the Hornets for Rozier, Miami would have all its future picks and four tradable first-round picks (2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032). Instead, the Heat can currently trade no more than two future first-round picks (2030 and 2032).
One potential workaround for the NBA would be awarding the Heat a compensatory first-round pick in 2027, which would allow Miami to trade four first-round picks. But there has been no indication that the NBA would consider doing that.
In fact, the Heat has yet to even receive clarity from the league about whether Rozier’s expiring $26.6 million salary can be used as part of a trade in the wake of his October arrest, according to a league source. The Heat would push for an immediate answer from the league on this issue if Rozier’s name came up in trade discussions with another team.
Getting a first-round pick back or even receiving permission to include Rozier’s large expiring salary in a deal would help the Heat in any potential trade discussions with the Milwaukee Bucks for two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. While Antetokounmpo had yet to formally request a trade, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported earlier this month that Antetokounmpo and his agent are having conversations with the Bucks about his future with the franchise.
An NBA source also indicated the Heat has not yet received clarity from the league about whether it could even waive Rozier before his full salary for this season becomes guaranteed in January.
Waiving Rozier would create an additional $1.7 million of room below the luxury tax threshold since only $24.9 million of his $26.6 million salary for this season is currently guaranteed, and would open another spot on Miami’s 15-man standard roster. The Heat is currently operating just $1.6 million below the NBA’s punitive luxury tax line.
Silver did not rule out giving back a first-round pick to the Heat or even granting the Heat salary-cap relief down the road, adding that a “unique solution” made be needed for “these unique events.” But Silver also made it clear that the league has yet to find a solution for the Heat.
“I would just say that there’s no doubt at the moment they have a player that can’t perform services for them,” Silver said Tuesday. “And as to the draft pick they conveyed, obviously he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet either. But this is an unfortunate circumstance. But sometimes there’s these unique events, and maybe sometimes they require a unique solution. So we’ll be looking at this with the Heat and the other teams in the league, and see if there’s any satisfactory relief. But at the moment, there is none.”
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier arrives for an arraignment hearing at U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on December 08, 2025 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago Getty Images
Rozier made an appearance in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, last week for his arraignment.
Rozier, who was arrested on the morning of Oct. 23 at the Heat’s Orlando hotel following the team’s Oct. 22 season-opening road loss to the Magic, pleaded not guilty at Monday’s arraignment and was released on $3 million bond secured by his home in South Florida.
Rozier, 31, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is accused of providing inside information to co-conspirators about his intentions to leave a March 2023 game early due to a foot injury while he was with the Hornets, which enabled them to place large bets on him not reaching statistical thresholds.
In its indictment, the FBI alleges that Rozier told Deniro Laster, a childhood friend, that he planned to remove himself from the Hornets’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans on March 23, 2023. Laster allegedly sold this information to two betters for about $100,000.
Rozier left the game after just nine minutes with five points, four rebounds and two assists.
The indictment alleges that he paid for Laster to travel to Philadelphia to collect the proceeds from the scheme, and that Laster then drove to Rozier’s home in Charlotte, North Carolina, to count the money with him. The indictment does not detail the evidence against Rozier.
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, has denied the allegations.
The NBA placed Rozier on paid leave shortly after his arrest in October, with the Heat continuing to list him as “not with team” on its injury reports this season.
The NBA is currently having the Heat place Rozier’s salary in an interest-bearing account, pending the resolution of his legal case.
“We had investigated him at some point earlier,” Silver continued on Rozier. “We had not found sufficient evidence to discipline him under the rules of the league. And then at some point, that investigation was taken over by federal authorities. So as I said, it’s in their hands. And also now, obviously, he’s been indicted, and then trial schedule, et cetera. So there are tangential issues that we’re looking into in that indictment, which is public record.
“So in essence, on a parallel path with the federal authorities, we are using whatever investigative powers we have to look into those incidents as well. But we don’t have ultimately the leverage, the authority that federal investigators have. So we take a backseat to their work. So the timeline [of the investigation is] uncertain.”