The heat has come down this week on Terry Rozier, but his Miami teammates are standing behind the veteran guard following his arrest Thursday in the FBI’s sweeping gambling investigation.
All-Star center Bam Adebayo said Rozier has the Heat’s “full support” after being placed on indefinite leave by the NBA.
“You support him through and through,” Adebayo told reporters before Friday’s game in Memphis. “That’s our brother at the end of the day.
“It felt kind of weird without him being here, actually, because he’s the first person I get to talk to in the morning. He brings that great energy to our team.”
Trail Blazers coach and Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups also was arrested for his alleged role in a poker-related scheme.
The 31-year-old Rozier was busted Thursday by federal agents and charged for allegedly conspiring to help others win prop bets involving his performance during a March 2023 game when he was a member of the Hornets before being traded to Miami the following season.
He has denied the charges through his legal counsel.
Follow The Post’s latest on the gambling scandal rocking the NBA:
“Terry is somebody who is very dear to all of us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s had a real positive impact on our locker room, and the staff and players alike, and that includes last year, when he wasn’t in the rotation oftentimes. We send our thoughts and our care for him as he goes through this.”
In the 2023 game for the Hornets, Rozier allegedly told a friend that he would pull himself early with an injury, and that information was sold to bettors, who wagered hundreds of thousands of dollars on Rozier’s under props, according to the indictment.
The FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker game ring backed by the New York City organized crime families.
- Ernest Aiello — reputed Bonanno mobster
- Nelson “Spanish G” Alvarez
- Louis “Lou Ap” Apicella
- Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh
- Saul Becher — professional poker player
- Chauncey Billups — Portland Trail Blazers coach, NBA Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA champion
- Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino
- Eric “Spooky” Earnest
- Lee Fama — professional poker player
- John Gallo
- Marco Garzon
- Thomas “Tommy Juice” Gelardo — reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for beating porn star girlfriend
- Jamie Gilet
- Tony “Black Tony” Goodson
- Kenny Han
- Shane “Sugar” Henne
- Osman “Albanian Bruce” Hoti
- Horatio Hu
- Zhen “Scruli” Hu
- Damon “Dee Jones” Jones — NBA player from 1998 to 2009
- Joseph Lanni
- John “John South” Mazzola
- Curtis Meeks
- Nicholas Minucci
- Michael Renzulli
- Anthony Ruggiero Jr.
- Anthony “Doc” Shnayderman
- Robert “Black Rob” Stroud
- Seth Trustman
- Sophia “Pookie” Wei
- Julius Ziliani
“That’s our brother,” Miami forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said Friday. “We’ve had a lot of time with him. [We’ll] see what happens. There’s a lot of stuff that we don’t know. Just waiting for more information to come out.”
Rozier was in uniform but did not play in the Heat’s season-opening loss Wednesday in Orlando.
Follow The Post’s live updates on the bombshell NBA, Mafia gambling scandal
For now, they must move on without him.
“You’re left with no other choice,” Spoelstra said. “The league doesn’t wait. It doesn’t stop for you.
“You have to learn how to compartmentalize and focus on the most immediate thing. And that’s preparing for an important game tonight.”
