Adam Silver addressed reporters on various topics Tuesday, including Terry Rozier’s gambling scandal. (Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images)
NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed reporters in Las Vegas, Nev., on Friday to discuss a variety of topics. One of those was the expected timetable for the conclusion of the cases for Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups.
Rozier was arrested by the FBI in late October in an illegal gambling probe and pleaded not guilty to federal fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges earlier this month. He was released on a $3 million bond and won’t appear in court again until early March.
While Silver was “uncertain” about the timeline for a resolution, since the NBA doesn’t have the power to “leverage the authority” that the FBI has, he did acknowledge that they will try to work with the Heat for a solution.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” Silver said. “I’m incredibly sympathetic to the Heat and to their fans. We’re going to try through and work this out with them. There’s no obvious solution here. There’s no doubt, at the moment, they have a player that can’t provide services for them.
“As for the draft pick they conveyed, obviously, he hasn’t been convicted of anything either. This is an unfortunate circumstance. Sometimes, there’s these unique events, and sometimes they require unique solutions.
“We’ll be looking at this with the Heat and other teams and see if they’re any satisfactory relief.”
“I’m incredibly sympathetic to the Heat and their fans. We’re going to try and work this out with them, but there’s no obvious solution here.”
— Adam Silver on the Miami Heat-Terry Rozier situation
— Hot Hot Hoops (@hothothoops) December 17, 2025
Adam Silver on Terry Rozier situation:
“This is an unprecedented situation. … We’re going to try and work this out with them, but there’s no obvious solution here.”
Idk giving them *at least* a compensatory pick feels obvious, no?!#HEATNationpic.twitter.com/SjUOjCrDRg
— Matt Hanifan (@mph_824_) December 17, 2025
As long as his current salary is on the Heat’s books, it remains to be seen whether or not the Heat can trade Rozier’s salary. He’s currently on the books for $26.6 million, which doesn’t become fully guaranteed until Jan. 7.
There’s not much the Heat can do. But any immediate solution — especially since we are roughly one-and-a-half months away from the Feb. 5 trade deadline — would help, especially with draft compensation.
Rewarding the Heat with a compensatory pick — at the bare minimum — is an obvious solution. But to Silver’s point, this is a very unique, unprecedented situation. Nevertheless, the Heat only have two tradable first-round picks (2030, 2032) ahead of the deadline; they cannot trade their 2027 or 2028 first-round picks because of the Rozier trade.
We’ll see how to the Heat navigate the deadline with Rozier on their books, should the situation be unresolved. It may not hurt them to throw Rozier in a trade anyway; the worst the NBA can say is “No.”
But, then again, why would another team accept that?!
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