BOSTON — Former Boston Celtics guard Terry Rozier is being investigated by federal prosecutors for potentially manipulating his performance in a game as part of an illegal sports gambling scheme, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. 

Rozier is being investigated for possibly checking out of a game early during the 2023 season when he was with the Charlotte Hornets, after a large amount of under prop bets were placed on his stat line.

The investigation is part of a wider probe connected to a betting scheme involving Jontay Porter, a former Toronto Raptors player who was hit with a lifetime ban by the NBA last year. An investigation found that Porter relayed confidential information to bettors and agreed to feign an injury or illness to remove himself early in two games to ensure bettors would win wagers on his individual statistics. Porter pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy last year and is currently awaiting sentencing.

Terry Rozier investigation

Rozier is on a much different level than Porter, who was a fringe NBA player with the Raptors. Rozier is an established NBA player 10 years of service and 642 games under his belt.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the gambling ring that conspired with Porter also had big bets against Rozier on March 23, 2023 when the Hornets played the New Orleans Pelicans. Rozier played just 9:34 that night and finished with five points, four rebounds, two assists, and one steal. He left that game early with a sore right foot, and didn’t play another game that season. 

Some sports books stopped taking prop bets on Rozier that night because of the volume of wagers, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

“In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass told the Wall Street Journal. “The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.”

Rozier was one of Charlotte’s best players in 2023, averaging 21.1 points and 5.1 assists over 35.3 minutes per game across 63 starts.

Terry Rozier with the Boston Celtics

Rozier was drafted by the Celtics with the 16th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Louisville and played four seasons with Boston. He was nicknamed “Scary Terry” by Boston fans because of his offensive prowess, and became a fan favorite when he filled in for an injured Kyrie Irving in the team’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017-18. 

Rozier was sent to the Hornets in July 2019 as part of a sign-and-trade than landed Kemba Walker in Boston. He played four-plus seasons in Charlotte, before he was traded to the Miami Heat at last year’s trade deadline. 

In 41 games (including 21 starts) for Miami this season, Rozier has averaged 11.9 points off 40 percent shooting to go with 2.9 assists and 4.1 rebounds per contest.