Feds arrested Rozier on Thursday for allegedly tipping off a friend that he was going to leave a March 23, 2023, game in the first quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans with an injury when he was guard with the Charlotte Hornets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The New York Post found the game footage and featured the video in its Thursday reporting of the scandal.
It shows Rozier started the game against the Pelicans as an aggressive guard, grabbing rebounds, providing an assist, and then missing a three-point field goal in the first few minutes of the contest.
Just before the halfway mark of the quarter, Rozier makes his first basket of the game, a shot from around the free throw line.
But as he ran back on defense, the Post pointed out, Rozier appeared to reach down and grab at his ankle or foot as he waited for the Pelicans to get into their offense.
From there on the guard doesn’t appear so active, even looking as if he he’s limping on a later play.
A few minutes later, Rozier would walk off the court slowly and not return for the rest of the contest. The team later reported the guard was suffering from a sore right foot.
According to the complaint, included as the court document in the Post story, the incident allowed the guard’s friend Deniro Laster and other betters to fraudulently place $200,000 in wagers predicting that Rozier would underperform that night.
As the U.S. Attorney’s office reported in its statement, “Rozier exited the game after nine minutes, and many of the bets paid off, generating tens of thousands of dollars in profits. Laster collected the cash and drove through the night to Rozier’s house, where together they counted the profits together.”
The game is only one part of a widespread betting and game-rigging scandal that resulted in the indictment of six defendants this week, Rozier among them.
The guard’s involvement in a scheme that netted “tens of thousands of dollars” seems paltry considering the risk to his career, his reputation, and his immense salary — currently reported to be nearly $26 million a year with the Miami Heat, 3 million more than his 2023 salary with the Hornets.
During his time at the Hornets, he reportedly inked a four-year extension worth around $96.3 million ahead of the 2022 NBA season, according to Sportrac, which documents contracts and salaries in professional sports.
In total, Rozier has accumulated more than $160 million in career earnings in his ten-year career, according to the website.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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