Terry Rozier under investigation for March 2023 game

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier is the subject of a federal investigation relating to his play in a March 2023 game, during his tenure with the Charlotte Hornets.

According to Jared Diamond, Louise Radnofsky and Robert O'Connell of The Wall Street Journal, the inquiry is part of a much larger investigation into a ring of bettors and poker players that authorities believe have been fixing games across a wide variety of sports, including the NBA.

It's the same probe that caught former Raptors forward Jontay Porter last year, which resulted in his being banned from the NBA for life, and saw him face federal felony conspiracy charges related to point shaving.

According to the report, Rozier and the Hornets took on the New Orleans Pelicans on March 23, 2023. Prior to that game, U.S. Integrity, a firm that monitors betting trends, noticed a significant uptick in bets on Rozier not hitting the lines being set on his stats for that game. The anomaly was significant enough that U.S. Integrity alerted sportsbooks to the betting patterns, resulting in many sportsbooks pulling odds on Rozier for the game.

The then-28-year-old Rozier started the game, but played just nine minutes and didn't return to the game due to a foot injury. He finished the game with five points, four rebounds, and two assists, well below his season averages and the betting lines that had been posted for the game. Rozier did not play in any of the Hornets' final eight games of the season.

The NBA released a statement on the probe, per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.

“In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement, first released to The Wall Street Journal and subsequently released to The Associated Press and other outlets. “The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.”

Rozier has not been charged with a crime at this point, and has also not been accused of any wrongdoing in the investigation. Investigators are looking into whether or not bettors were given inside information regarding Rozier's injury that caused them to bet the under on his stat totals for the game.

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Heat's Terry Rozier under federal investigation over gambling activity from March 2023 game

By Sam Westmoreland | 2:25 PM EST