Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat #2 Terry Rozier.
Im Soo-beom | Nick Cammett | Getty Images
The union representing NBA players announced Wednesday that it will challenge the suspension of pay for Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who was arrested last week on charges related to a basketball gambling scandal.
Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups have been placed on administrative leave by the NBA after their arrests on Thursday in separate gambling-related cases, resulting in their multimillion-dollar salaries being withheld from their respective teams, CNBC confirmed.
“While we agree with the league that preserving the integrity of the game is of paramount importance, the league’s decision to place Terry on unpaid leave violates the presumption of innocence and is inconsistent with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement,” a National Basketball Players Association spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.
“We intend to challenge their decision through the appropriate channels,” the spokesperson said.
Rozier’s salary this season is approximately $26.6 million.
Billups, a former Detroit Pistons player who will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024, is said to have earned approximately $4.7 million in the 2024-25 season.
In April, the Trail Blazers signed him to a multi-year contract extension through the 2026-27 season for an undisclosed amount.
The Associated Press first reported that Billups and Rozier’s salaries were being garnished. This was revealed by CNBC citing a source.
CNBC has reached out to the man’s attorney for comment.
The Heat declined to comment and the Trail Blazers declined to comment on the pay suspension, which comes two days after the NBA announced it was conducting an extensive review of betting-related issues “to protect the integrity of the NBA and its affiliated leagues.”
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, told CNBC on Wednesday that the large IRS tax lien placed on Rozier’s Florida home is unreasonable and should be immediately removed by tax authorities.
“Several years ago, the IRS issued a lien on Terry’s entire 2021 tax liability, approximately $8 million, due to flaws in his e-filing attempts,” Trustee said.
“When the accountant clarified the situation with the IRS, it was discovered that Terry owed only $3,000 in unpaid taxes for 2021,” Trustee said. “That amount has already been processed and we fully expect the extinguished lien to be discharged in the near future.”
Billups, 49, and Rozier, 31, are charged separately in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York.
Rozier, along with five other defendants, is charged with conspiracy for allegedly leaking or obtaining confidential information about basketball players and teams to gamblers who then used that information to bet.
Specifically, Rozier is accused of telling a defendant in the same suit that he planned to leave a March 2023 game early due to an alleged injury while playing for the Charlotte Hornets.
The other man and two others charged in the same indictment used that information to place so-called prop bets totaling more than $200,000 in which Rozier statistically underperformed in certain areas of his play, according to the indictment. Many of those bets paid off when Rozier finished the game in just nine minutes, according to the indictment.
Rozier’s attorney, Trustee, denies Rozier did anything wrong.
“Terry’s not a gambler, but he’s not afraid of a fight. He’s looking forward to winning this fight,” Trusty said last week.
Billups is accused of participating in a scheme involving alleged Mafia members to defraud players of underground poker games out of millions of dollars using fraudulent equipment.
Billups’ attorney, Chris Haywood, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday about the coach’s salary status.
“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows that he is a man of integrity. A man of integrity does not cheat or defraud others,” Haywood said last week.
