Rozier and Billups will not receive
NBA salaries while on leave in gambling cases, AP sources say
[October 30, 2025]
By TIM REYNOLDS
NBA guard Terry Rozier and coach Chauncey Billups will not receive
their salaries while on leave for their arrests on federal
gambling-related charges, two people with knowledge of the matters
told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Rozier had been due to receive the first installment of a $26.6
million annual salary with the Miami Heat later this week. That, and
future installments, will be held pending resolution of his legal
case, said the people, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity
because the details were not released publicly.
If Rozier is cleared and allowed to return to the NBA, which placed
him on leave hours after his Oct. 23 arrest, he could receive the
held payments in full, one of the sources said.
The Heat will not receive any immediate salary cap relief by the
NBA's decision, one of the sources said.
There are provisions in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement
that allow the league, in certain situations, to place salary
withheld from a player in an interest-bearing account.
Billups, the Portland coach who has also been placed on leave by the
league after his arrest last week, is having his salary held by the
Trail Blazers, one of the sources said. Billups is under contract
into at least the 2026-27 season; the team announced that he agreed
to a multiyear extension in April.
There was no immediate comment from either the Heat or the Trail
Blazers.
The National Basketball Players Association indicated it would file
a grievance on Rozier’s behalf.
“While we are in agreement with the league that upholding the
integrity of the game is of the utmost importance, their decision to
place Terry on leave without pay is counter to the presumption of
innocence and inconsistent with the terms of our Collective
Bargaining Agreement,” said an NBPA spokesperson. “We plan to
challenge their decision via the proper channels.”
Meanwhile, Rozier's attorney said Wednesday that a federal lien
filed with regard to the player's tax bill in 2021 was satisfied.
The Internal Revenue Service filed that lien against Rozier in
November 2023, showing an “unpaid balance of assessment” of
$8,218,211.70 for the 2021 tax year. But Rozier’s attorney, Jim
Trusty, said in an email to the AP that the actual amount owed to
the IRS at that time was a sliver of that total.
“There was never a debt of $8 million,” Trusty wrote. “Out of his
total taxes owed in 2021 ($8m) he actually owed $9000. That was paid
but the now-defunct lien still needs to be pulled from the local
courthouse.”
ESPN first reported the lien’s existence. The lien is a public
record, and there is no publicly available document showing it has
been removed.
Officials in Broward County, Florida — where the lien was filed —
did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A call seeking
information from an IRS revenue officer was unanswered. Revenue
officers work for the IRS to collect delinquent taxes.
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Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier leaves the U.S. Federal Courthouse
through a side door after his arraignment, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025,
in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Rozier owns a home in Broward County and records
show his property taxes have been paid in full each year. That
property is about 30 miles from where the Heat play their home
games.
Rozier was playing for the Charlotte Hornets during that 2021 tax
year and is now on the Heat roster. He, Billups and nearly three
dozen other individuals were arrested last week on gambling-related
charges detailed in two separate indictments.
Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, has denied the allegations against
his client.
Federal officials alleged that Rozier conspired with associates to
help them win bets based on his statistical performance in a game
when he was with the Hornets on March 23, 2023 — more than seven
months before the lien was prepared and nearly eight months before
it was formally filed. Rozier played sparingly in that game and
gamblers who wagered that he would finish “under” certain
statistical totals won those bets.
The charges against Rozier are similar to what former Toronto player
Jontay Porter faced before he was banned from the league by
Commissioner Adam Silver in 2024.
Rozier did not play in the final eight games of that 2022-23 season,
with he and the Hornets citing a foot injury. The Hornets had
several players injured at that time and were already eliminated
from playoff contention.
Sportsbooks detected unusual patterns of wagers on the Charlotte
game in question — prop bets involving Rozier were flagged and
immediately brought to the NBA’s attention — and the league probed
the matter but did not find enough evidence to conclude that Rozier
broke any rules. The NBA, unlike federal law enforcement, does not
have subpoena power.
Trusty has said Rozier is “not a gambler” and looks forward to
winning the case.
The NBA said earlier this week that it is reviewing how sensitive
information like injury reports — which are public and updated
hourly — should be handled going forward. Members of the House and
Senate have both asked the NBA for more information.
Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Commerce Committee,
and Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on that panel, wrote
Silver this week seeking detail “about how the NBA investigated and
handled these allegations" and why the NBA allowed Rozier to
continue playing.
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