The pick is an addendum to a deal that grew messy last year when Rozier was indicted by the Department of Justice and charged for what federal prosecutors say was his role in an NBA gambling scheme based on non-public information related to a March 2023 game while he was with the Hornets. Rozier has been unable to play for the Heat this entire season after the NBA put him on leave in October, days after his arrest.
The Hornets traded Rozier to Miami in January 2024 for Kyle Lowry and a future first-round pick. At that time, there was no public knowledge of the allegations about Rozier, but the NBA had investigated him. However, the league did not find enough evidence to remove Rozier from the court after its chosen law firm, Wachtell Lipton, concluded its inquiry. Wachtell lawyers accessed Rozier’s phone, league sources said, and found that he had sent a text to someone that he would come out early from a game, according to multiple people briefed on the investigations. However, the investigation stopped there as those lawyers could not compel others to participate.
The NBA shared the findings of its investigation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in the winter after Rozier came under suspicion by the league, around the same time the Hornets traded Rozier. Joseph Nocella, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, where the charges were brought, said in an October news conference that the NBA had cooperated with the government’s investigation, which lasted several years.
Federal prosecutors, in an October 2025 indictment, alleged that Rozier told Deniro Laster, a friend, that he would come out early from a March 23, 2023, game against the Pelicans. Laster then sold that information to a group of sports gamblers who wagered on prop bets on Rozier’s stats. Rozier has pleaded not guilty to two federal charges.
He has not played in a game all season and was arrested the morning after the Heat’s season opener. The NBA first put Rozier on unpaid leave, but that was amended after an arbitrator ruled in Rozier’s favor this winter following a grievance filed by the NBPA.
The Heat and Hornets both declined to comment.
