Terry Rozier wants to play in the NBA again, but bail conditions could hamper his return

Miami Heat's Terry Rozier arrives at Brooklyn federal court, Monday, April 27, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura,File) 2026-07-09T00:46:19Z New York (AP) — Former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier wants to play in the NBA while he fights sports gambling charges that sidelined him last season. Bail conditions that bar him from contact with certain players and limit his travel could complicate his potential return. U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall on Wednesday denied a defense request to modify Rozier’s bail conditions so he can practice and play with potential witnesses as long as they don’t talk about the case. The judge said it would be impossible to police Rozier’s on-court conversations. She admonished Rozier for already violating the no-contact provision of his $3 million bond by sending a text message to a person he was told not to communicate with. Rozier was contacting the person to tell the person he was on the no-contact list, DeArcy Hall said. “What that tells me is that he believes he knows better than the court,” DeArcy Hall said at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court. Rozier, she said, “violated the court’s trust with that text message.” Rozier averaged 3.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in 10 NBA seasons, four and a half of which he spent with the Charlotte Hornets before he was traded to Miami in 2024. He remains a free agent after the Heat released him in April. An arbitrator ruled in February that the Heat had to pay Rozier his $26.6 million salary for last season. Rozier, 32, is scheduled to stand trial in February on bribery and conspiracy charges after federal prosecutors say he took a $70,000 payoff to help gamblers cash in with a tip that he would leave a March 2023 game early, citing a lingering lower leg injury. He hadn’t been listed on the team’s injury report and neither the public nor sportsbooks knew of his plan, prosecutors said. Rozier’s friend Deniro “Niro” Laster, who is also charged, shared or sold the information to others, who placed more than $250,000 in bets that his points, assists and other totals would be lower than what the sportsbooks had set as betting lines, federal prosecutors said. (