Prosecutors Say Rozier Associate Eyed Bet on Hornets Teammate

A co-defendant in the federal betting case against Terry Rozier told a gambler he and Rozier were setting up a second scheme to bet unders on another Charlotte Hornets player's statistics, according to a court filing described by ESPN. The teammate was not named in the filing, and prosecutors did not say whether any bet was actually placed.

What does the new filing allege?

Prosecutors wrote that in April 2023, Deniro Laster texted co-conspirator Marves Fairley that he and Rozier were "setting up another under bets, this one involving one of Rozier's then-teammates," according to the filing cited by ESPN. The message allegedly went out roughly two weeks after Rozier left a March 23, 2023, game between the Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans in the first quarter — an exit prosecutors say was tied to a separate, $100,000 bribe arrangement involving Rozier's own statistics that night.

The filing, as described by ESPN, does not say whether the teammate referenced in Laster's text knew of any plan involving his own performance, or whether anyone ultimately placed a bet tied to him. It also does not establish, according to the reporting, whether Rozier was aware that Laster had described the two of them as working together on the new scheme.

Who is Deniro Laster, and how does he fit into the case?

Laster is named in the filing as a co-defendant alongside Rozier. The text exchange prosecutors cite was sent to Fairley, a Mississippi bettor who has already pleaded guilty to felony charges in the broader case, ESPN reported. In his plea, Fairley admitted he had agreed to pay an NBA player to manipulate his on-court performance, according to the outlet.

Prosecutors also allege, per ESPN's account of the filing, that Laster separately messaged a different then-NBA player in April 2023 and asked whether they were "tryna make 100k gang." That player was not identified in the filing either.

Does this new allegation implicate Rozier directly?

Not definitively, based on what prosecutors have disclosed so far. ESPN reports it remains unclear whether Rozier knew about Laster's text describing the two of them as partners in a new under-betting plan. The filing centers the explicit knowledge and intent on Laster's communications with Fairley and with the unnamed player Laster contacted — not on any message directly attributed to Rozier about the teammate scheme.

That distinction matters for the case: prosecutors have separately and specifically alleged that Rozier agreed to a $100,000 bribe to leave the March 2023 Pelicans game early so bettors could profit on the under on his own statistics, according to ESPN. The teammate-related texts described in Friday's filing are presented as a related but distinct allegation involving Laster's outside conversations, not as a direct admission from Rozier himself.

How does this connect to the original bribery count against Rozier?

The timing prosecutors lay out links the two allegations chronologically. The Laster-to-Fairley text about a new under bet involving a teammate came about two weeks after the Pelicans game at the center of Rozier's own bribery charge, according to the filing cited by ESPN. Prosecutors appear to be using that sequence to argue a pattern — that the alleged scheme involving Rozier's own exit from a game was not an isolated incident but part of a broader effort by Laster and associates to arrange under bets on NBA players' statistics.

ESPN notes Rozier has pleaded not guilty to the bribery charges tied to the Pelicans game, and separate reporting referenced in the case has also alleged witness tampering. Rozier has not been charged, based on this filing, with the teammate-specific scheme described in Laster's text.

What happens next in the case?

Fairley's guilty plea leaves him as a cooperating witness whose statements and the texts prosecutors obtained from him form the basis of Friday's filing, according to ESPN. The unnamed teammate's status — whether as a potential witness, an uncharged party, or someone with no knowledge of the alleged plan — has not been clarified in court filings reported so far.

For Rozier, the core legal exposure remains the bribery allegation tied to his own early exit from the March 2023 game, which he denies. The teammate-bet allegation adds another data point to prosecutors' broader narrative about Laster's alleged betting network, but it has not, based on current reporting, been converted into a separate charge against Rozier himself.

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