Head coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers and Terry Rozier #2 of the Miami Heat.
Soobum Im | Nick Cammett | Getty Images
The union that represents NBA players said Wednesday that it will challenge the suspension of pay for Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who was arrested last week on charges related to an alleged basketball betting ring.
Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were placed on leave by the NBA after their arrests for separate gambling-related cases on Thursday, and their multi-million-dollar salaries are being withheld by their respective teams as a result, CNBC confirmed.
“While we are in agreement with the league that upholding the integrity of the game is of the utmost importance, their decision to place Terry on leave without pay is counter to the presumption of innocence and inconsistent with the terms of our Collective Bargaining Agreement,” a spokesperson for the Natioal said an National Basketball Players Association told CNBC in a statement.
“We plan to challenge their decision via the proper channels,” the spokesperson said.
Rozier’s salary for this season is about $26.6 million.
Billups, a former Detroit Pistons player who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024, reportedly earned about $4.7 million for 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 the salaries of Billups and Rozier are being withheld. CNBC confirmed that with people familiar with the matter.
CNBC has requested comment from the men’s lawyers.
The Heat declined to comment, and the Trail Blazers on the salary suspensions, which came to light two days after the NBA said it was conducting a broad review of betting-related issues to “protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues.”
Rozier’s lawyer Jim Trusty told CNBC on Wednesday that a large IRS tax lien placed on Rozier’s home in Florida was for an incorrect amount, and that it should be removed soon by the tax agency.
“Several years ago, a flawed e-filing attempt led to the IRS issuing a lien for Terry’s full tax liability for 2021, roughly $8 million,” Trusty said.
“Once the accountant clarified the situation with the IRS, Terry was found to owe only $3,000 in unpaid taxes for 2021,” Trusty said. “That amount has been taken care of and we fully expect the defunct lien to be withdrawn in the near future.”
Billups, 49, and the 31-year-old Rozier are charged in separate indictments in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York.
Rozier is accused, with five other defendants, of a conspiracy that involved confidential information about basketball players and teams being leaked to or obtained by gamblers, who then allegedly used the information to make bets.
Rozier specifically is accused of telling a defendant in the same case, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets, that he planned to leave a game in March 2023 early due to a purported injury.
The other man and two other men charged in the same indictment then used that information to make so-called prop bets totaling more than $200,000 that Rozier would underperform statistically in certain areas of his play, the indictment alleges. Many of those bets paid off when Rozier exited the game after just nine minutes, according to the indictment.
Rozier’s lawyer, Trusty, denies that Rozier did anything wrong.
“Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight,” Trusty said last week.
Billups is accused of crimes related to his alleged participation in a scheme with alleged Mafia members to swindle players in underground poker games out of millions of dollars with cheating devices.
Billups’ lawyer, Chris Heywood, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about the coach’s salary status.
Heywood last week said, “Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others.”
