Terry Rozier’s trial date set for 2027 as NBA future grows uncertain

NEW YORK — A federal judge has asked the NBA to weigh in on whether Terry Rozier should have a chance to play in the league next season.

Rozier is not allowed to be in contact with the Charlotte Hornets while he awaits a trial for charges that he took a bribe to manipulate his performance during a 2023 game while he was with the team — one of four federal counts stemming from an investigation into alleged illegal sports gambling. A lawyer for Rozier has asked the Department of Justice and the judge to lift that provision of his release on bond, saying it effectively prevents the veteran guard from playing in the league. The judge, LaShann DeArcy Hall, said she wants to hear from the NBA before she decides what to do. The Hornets have taken no position on the request, a lawyer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District said.

The federal prosecutor, Kaitlin T. Farrell, said she believes the league prefers that the no-contact requirement not be lifted and that he not be allowed to play. Hall gave the league until Monday to file a letter to the Eastern District with its preference.

Jim Trusty, the lawyer for Rozier, excoriated the league after a hearing Wednesday that served as a status update on Rozier’s case, as well as the other three defendants who remain indicted alongside him. Two others, Marves Fairley and former NBA player Damon Jones, have pleaded guilty.

“The NBA has literally flagrantly fouled the presumption of innocence,” Trusty said as Rozier stood next to him outside the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. “They should be ashamed of themselves. As you heard in the hearing today, they’re still trying to find ways to pretend they’re victims and that Terry should be prohibited from playing basketball, at least practically speaking. They are not on the side of angels in this case. They’ve made a decision to completely contradict the presumption of innocence. They never gave it to him.”

Rozier has pleaded not guilty to all four charges. The judge set a Feb. 8, 2027, date for trial.

The NBA, however, put Rozier on leave soon after he was arrested last October. It tried to withhold his $26.6 million salary as well, but Rozier and the NBPA appealed the decision to an arbitrator, who ruled in his favor. But the league ultimately prevailed this spring when it again decreased Rozier’s salary, saying the conditions of his bond set in mid-December prevented him from fulfilling his contract. The players union and Rozier again filed a grievance; the arbitrator ruled for the NBA.

Trusty said the ban on contact with the Hornets was “devastating” in the arbitrator hearing, though Hall said that argument didn’t carry far in her courtroom. Federal prosecutors had also prevented Rozier from speaking to members of the Heat organization while he was still employed by them, but lifted that last month after Rozier was waived by the team. They had also investigated whether Rozier had ever discussed his case with them.

There was, initially, at least some humor about which contact the bond conditions had prevented.

“It’s not the court’s view that (it is) contact on the other court, unless it’s particularly physical,” Hall said.

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Rozier has asked the judge to dismiss the charges against him and is awaiting her ruling. But that request was filed over the winter, before prosecutors brought two more charges late last month, alleging that he agreed to get paid $100,000 to take himself out early from a game while he was with the Hornets.

Trusty told the judge that he will file a new motion to dismiss those charges as well.

“He’s strong now,” Trusty said of Rozier. “He’ll be strong when his day of exoneration comes. We’ll fight whoever is going to come at us in terms of the NBA as a victim, as well as sportsbooks, or a prosecution with a novel theory that don’t have facts to support.”