Arbitrator rules Rozier salary cannot be withheld by Heat, NBA amid gambling case

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Feb 2, 2026

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MIAMI — Although legal battles remain, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier has received a victory of sorts, with the National Basketball Players Association successful in its arbitration that Rozier’s salary cannot be withheld by the NBA.

In the wake of Rozier’s Oct. 23 arrest as part of the FBI’s gambling investigation, the NBA moved to have Rozier’s $26.6 million 2025-26 salary placed in an interest-bearing, escrow-type account until the case is adjudicated.

Instead, in the wake of an arbitration hearing held in December, the players’ union received a written ruling in favor of Rozier, a party involved in the process confirmed Monday to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Rozier has been placed on NBA leave since his arrest, still listed and counting on the Heat’s roster limit, with his salary-cap figure still listed against the Heat’s salary cap.

The arbitration ruling does not change the NBA stance of Rozier being ineligible for league participation.

Although the league has declined to confirm that the Heat can utilize Rozier’s contracts in a trade for salary-cap purposes, such is the expectation ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET NBA trading deadline. Because of that possibility, the Heat declined to waive Rozier in January, when $1.7 million of his 2025-26 salary had yet to be guaranteed.

An acquiring team at the trade deadline therefore would have to inherit the twice-monthly payroll checks currently being issued by the Heat to Rozier.

Based on Rozier not being allowed to return to the team by the NBA as he awaits the next hearing in his case, which is scheduled for March, it is possible that if Rozier is not dealt by Thursday’s deadline that he instead will be released, which would open an addition spot on the Heat’s roster.

Rozier’s attorney has filed a motion to have the government’s charges dropped, citing a U.S. Supreme Court precedent that could stand in Rozier’s favor.

Rozier is in the final season of the contract the Heat acquired when they added Rozier in the January 2024 trade that sent Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets.

During a Dec. 16 media session at the NBA Cup in Las Vegas, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he appreciated the Heat’s predicament.

“This is an unprecedented situation,” he said. “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.”

Among league options beyond the salary cap and luxury tax could be a form of relief for the first-round pick still due to the Hornets. That selection is lottery protected in 2027 or otherwise unprotected in 2028. The Heat hold their own first-round pick in this June’s draft.

The charges involving Rozier date to his time with the Hornets, in a game he pulled himself early that featured several “under” proposition bets by those known to be Rozier associates.

Rozier, 31, was arraigned in December in Brooklyn federal court, pleading not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was released on $3 million bond secured by his home in South Florida.

In his comments on the situation in December, Silver said, “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.”

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