By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
MIAMI (AP) — The reality began setting in for the Miami Heat on Friday when they gathered for a morning shootaround practice and Terry Rozier wasn’t with the team.
And that almost certainly won’t change anytime soon.
Rozier has been placed on indefinite leave by the NBA after he was arrested Thursday by federal agents and charged for his alleged role in a scheme in which prosecutors say he conspired with friends to help them win bets they made based on his performance in a March 2023 game when he was with the Charlotte Hornets.
“You support him through and through,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said in Memphis, Tennessee, before Miami’s game against the Grizzlies. “That’s our brother at the end of the day. It felt kind of weird without him being here, actually, because he’s the first person I get to talk to in the morning. He brings that great energy to our team.”
Adebayo made clear how the players still feel about Rozier.
“We stand behind him,” Adebayo said. “Full support.”
The Heat now have to move on, much like how the Portland Trail Blazers must do without coach Chauncey Billups — also arrested Thursday and placed on leave for his alleged involvement in another gambling scheme, this one a poker cheating ring backed by the mafia.
The prop-bet allegations surrounding Rozier first came to light in late January. He didn’t seem bothered in the games that immediately followed, scoring at least 19 points in three of the next four contests.
But since then, his numbers have plummeted well off his career pace. Over Miami’s last 39 games going into Friday, including the 2025 postseason, Rozier has made only 18 appearances and averaged 5.9 points on 31% shooting. His career norms before that: 13.8 points on 42% shooting.
“Terry is somebody who is very dear to all of us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s had a real positive impact on our locker room, and the staff and players alike, and that includes last year, when he wasn’t in the rotation often times. We send our thoughts and our care for him as he goes through this.”
Rozier, through his attorney, has denied any wrongdoing. The Heat aren’t commenting on the legal part of the case, nor are the Hornets, the team that Rozier was with during the March 23, 2023, game in question.
Rozier was in the starting lineup for Charlotte and played reasonably well in his 9 1/2 minutes of action, with five points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. That remains one of only two times in his career that he had that many points, rebounds and assists in a first quarter.
Rozier cited foot pain as his reason for not returning to that game, and he sat out the final eight Charlotte games that season. The Hornets had already been eliminated from playoff contention and it’s not uncommon for players — even those with minor injuries — to be held out of inconsequential games toward the end of a season.
Heat players met Thursday, hours after Rozier was arrested by federal authorities in Orlando, Florida, and spent part of that session discussing how to support their teammate.
“That’s our brother,” forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. “We’ve had a lot of time with him. You know, see what happens. There’s a lot of stuff that we don’t know. Just waiting for more information to come out.”
Rozier was not in the playing rotation for Miami’s season-opening game in Orlando on Wednesday. He was in uniform and on the bench, eligible to play if the Heat decided they needed him. There was no indication that night that any new legal trouble was looming.
By the time the team left Orlando on Thursday, it was obvious that Rozier wouldn’t be with the club again for some time. The challenge now for the Heat, Spoelstra said, is to figure out how to move forward.
“You’re left with no other choice,” Spoelstra said. “The league doesn’t wait. It doesn’t stop for you. … You have to learn how to compartmentalize and focus on the most immediate thing. And that’s preparing for an important game tonight.”
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Associated Press freelancer Phil Stukenborg in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
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