The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets have been linked in the news recently, and it’s not just because they face off on Tuesday night at Kaseya Center for the first of their four regular-season matchups.
The Heat and Hornets have been linked in recent headlines in the wake of guard Terry Rozier’s arrest this past Thursday stemming from his alleged involvement in a sports betting scheme.
That’s because 10 months before the Heat acquired Rozier from the Hornets through a trade midway through the 2023-24 season, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity involving Rozer in the hours before the Hornets’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans in March 2023. This sparked an investigation by the NBA, with the league determining Rozier did not violate NBA rules.
But following its own protocol, the NBA did not inform the Heat (or other teams) of that red flag or its investigation in the months that followed, nor did it inform the Heat prior to the league approving the January 2024 trade that sent Rozier to the Heat for Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick, multiple sources told The Miami Herald.
The Hornets also did not inform the Heat, sources said, though Charlotte is refusing to say if they were even aware of the matter at the time of the trade.
The question is should the Hornets and/or NBA have informed the Heat of the investigation and its results before finalizing the trade? It’s complicated.
“It’s a gray area,” ESPN front office insider and former Nets executive Bobby Marks said to the Miami Herald, with the Heat (2-1) set to close its two-game homestand on Tuesday against the Hornets (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) following Sunday’s impressive 115-107 win over the New York Knicks at Kaseya Center. “As part of NBA trade calls, teams are required to disclose medical information that would prevent a player from playing basketball. There’s nowhere in the NBA operations manual, at least I haven’t found it, where it says that the NBA is obligated to disclose information that a player has been investigated or is currently being investigated.”
Marks admits, though, “if I was the Heat, I would have wanted to know.”
But the Heat was unaware that Rozier was the subject of separate NBA and FBI investigations until the Wall Street Journal broke the story this past January.
The league declined to say last week whether its investigation was completed before the Heat traded for him.
On Monday, ESPN obtained an NBA memo sent to all 30 teams stating that the league has begun the process of reviewing policies regarding injury reporting, training and education of all personnel, and enhancing internal and external monitoring programs to identify betting activity of concern.
Part of the memo read: “While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier’s ‘unders’ in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done from a legal/regulatory perspective to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.”
All of this has left the Heat seeking answers in the immediate aftermath of Rozier’s arrest, which led to the NBA placing Rozier “on immediate leave” from the team while still being paid.
Rozier was 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 game early due to injury, which enabled them to place large bets on him not reaching statistical thresholds.
Rozier’s attorney James Trusty has denied the allegations and said in a statement that his client “looks forward to winning this fight.”
Marks and others around the league believe that the Hornets knew Rozier was being investigated by the NBA based on the notion that teams would generally know when one of their players is being investigated.
“I’m sure [the Hornets] knew that somebody on the roster was being actively investigated in a gambling thing,” Marks said. “But it’s a gray area that I think the league is going to have to look long and hard at. When players are being investigated and are part of trade discussions, do they have the authority and morality to disclose that information? Because on the other end, legal will say, ‘Well, wait a minute. If we disclose it and the guy is not guilty, then we’ve just harmed the trade.’”
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier (2) reacts after a play against the Memphis Grizzlies in the second half of their NBA preseason game at Kaseya Center on Oct. 17, 2025, in Miami. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
The Heat remains in information gathering mode, and it’s undetermined if and how strongly the team would attempt to recoup the first-round pick that it sent to the Hornets in the trade.
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.
“I understand why they would say that. I understand the reason why,” Marks said of the Heat potentially pushing to get back the first-round pick it traded for Rozier. “I guess we learn something different every year, but I’ve never seen a team be rewarded back a pick that they’ve previously traded that’s still outstanding. So I would say that would be a tough one to try to recoup.
“I also understand why if you’re Charlotte, you’re saying: ‘Well, wait a minute. We didn’t do anything wrong. Why are we going to be penalized?’ What would have happened if the pick had already been conveyed? So it kind of opens up a can of worms a little bit. It kind of goes down a slippery slope. I would never say never, but I would say it’s probably more highly unlikely that something would be returned to the Heat.”
If the Heat hadn’t traded a future first-round pick to Charlotte 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 recourse 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 yet that the NBA would consider doing that.
“This is a unique situation,” Marks said of that possibility. “There’s no precedent for something like this. So I do think it is a unique situation and I think it’s something that the league, the players association and the teams are going to have to talk about. Because as I said, it’s not like you can say, ‘Well, back in 2018, this happened.’ No, there’s just no precedent for this.”
Marks believes the next date to watch is Nov. 15, when Rozier is scheduled to receive the first of 24 payments of $1.1 million as part of his salary this season. Rozier is due $26.6 million this season in the final year of his contract.
The NBA has declined to say whether Silver would consider voiding Rozier’s contract, thus removing his $26.6 million salary from Miami’s books, before the case is adjudicated in federal court.
The labor agreement gives Silver the immediate power to suspend or expel Rozier from the league if NBA has reason to believe the charges against him are true. Expelling him immediately would leave the Heat about $2 million over the $154.6 million salary cap, but about $28 million below the luxury tax threshold.
“I think the only time his salary will get removed is if they determine that he’s been kicked out of the league, banned from the NBA,” Marks said. “I think that’s the only time we’ll see that. Listen, you have a three-month lead up or four-month lead up to the trade deadline here. That would be a huge number.
“But I think in the meantime, the interesting thing would be what happens if Miami has four players injured right now. That’s the big thing.”
With Rozier currently away from the team, the Heat is down to 16 players (13 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts). NBA rules prohibit teams from carrying fewer than 14 players on its standard roster for more than two consecutive weeks at a time and a total of 28 days during the regular season, but the Heat is still considered to have 14 players on standard deals because Rozier is still technically on the roster.
With NBA rules requiring teams to have at least eight players in uniform for every game, a rash of injuries that would bring the Heat below this number would create an interesting situation because adding a player to get to the required amount of available bodies would bring the team above the luxury tax threshold if Rozier’s salary is still on the books. The Heat does not intend to cross the luxury-tax threshold this season because of the looming threat of the repeater tax after finishing as a luxury tax team in each of the past two seasons.
“If they had like seven guys injured, I think the league would probably give them some flexibility here,” Marks said. “But you’re kind of just like in this holding pattern right now. We’re in October, this isn’t February or the trade deadline. You’re waiting for the league to decide. I’ve said it all along, Jontay Porter did not plead guilty until July 2024. But the league had banned him prior to that. So how does him being somewhat exonerated by the NBA, how does all this new information, how does this play into his role on the roster moving forward? Like right now, the Heat are basically kind of at the mercy of the league for them to make a decision.”
For now, the Heat is very much in wait-and-see mode as the NBA works through a tricky and delicate situation.
“It seems like the league is a little more hesitant to suspend [Rozier] for conduct detrimental to the league because they’ve already exonerated and investigated him,” Marks said. “So I think the league is probably going to try to learn more about this investigation and what’s in that indictment.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 10:27 AM.
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Anthony Chiang
Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.
