A$AP Rocky rolled the dice and rejected a plea bargain in his felony assault case because the deal would have cost him his livelihood, sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ.

Rocky's trial starts this morning with opening statements, and he now faces 24 years in prison for allegedly shooting A$AP Relli in November 2021.

The plea deal he was offered included 180 days in jail, a guilty plea to the most serious of the 2 felonies for which he was charged -- assault with a semiautomatic weapon -- a 7-year suspended sentence, 3 years probation and 500 hours of community service.

One Rocky source with direct knowledge tells TMZ, "This would effectively end his career because he would lose all of his endorsement contracts, including Gucci, Puma, the Met Gala and, most important, he would not be able to tour and his career would be over." The source added, "They would have him under their thumb for over 8 years."

A jury was selected Thursday afternoon, and prosecutors were all over prospective jurors, asking if they would be influenced if Rihanna showed up in the courtroom.

Our bet -- she's gonna be front and center for at least part of the trial.