On Thursday morning, Miami Heat point guard Terry Rozier was taken into federal custody on charges pertaining to illegal gambling. Rozier had been the subject of a league investigation previously and was accused by the feds of providing insider information on NBA games to bettors in exchange for a fee or a percentage of profits.
Later in the day on Thursday, updates were provided on the terms of Rozier's release from federal custody, outlined during his court appearance in Orlando.
“…a Florida judge denied a request from prosecutors to set a $10 million bond for the NBA star, reported Dan Gallo of NBC News. “Instead, the judge only required Rozier to put up his $6 million Florida home as collateral for bond and surrender his passport by tomorrow afternoon.”
Gallo added that “shortly after being asked to put his home up as collateral, Rozier walked out of the Orlando courthouse on his own accord. Rozier waived his right to have his future hearings in Florida and his next expected court date will be in Brooklyn, New York, in December.”
An image showed Rozier wearing shorts and a black hoodie as he walked out of his court appearance in Orlando.
A huge scandal for the NBA
Rozier was arrested along with other past and present members of the NBA community, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups as well as former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones. Rozier and Billups have both been placed on leave by the NBA in the wake of their arrests.
Rozier was a DNP-coach's decision for the Heat during their Wednesday evening loss to the Orlando Magic on the road, and had already started to fall out of Erik Spoelstra's rotation toward the end of last season due to his poor play.
Now, he won't be with the team at least for the immediate future as a result of the arrest, and it remains to be seen how the NBA will handle the public fallout from this incident, particularly as the league continues to do business with sportsbooks.
