(Photo via Getty Images)
When the Miami Heat traded for Terry Rozier back in the beginning of 2024, they were expecting a needle moving point guard to help maximize the Jimmy Butler era. Kyle Lowry, who was quickly aging and becoming unplayable, was shipped out in the trade along with a future first-round draft pick.
Not only did the Heat have to attach an asset to get off of Lowry’s contract, but they might need to now do the same if they want to get off of Rozier’s.
Doing so would be a complete malpractice of the front office’s already questionable asset management over the years. It’s not worth it.
Prior to that trade, Rozier was in the midst of a career year. He was averaging 23.2 points, 6.6 assists and 3.9 rebounds on a strong 46% shooting and 36% from 3-point range. Those numbers quickly evaporated as soon as he joined Miami— turning into an even bigger liability than Lowry was at the time of the initial trade.
Terry Rozier has not been the dynamic scorer that this front office thought they traded for.
Rozier found himself out of coach Erik Spoelstra’s rotation entirely towards the end of last season, and the organization has been desperately searching for a trade partner all offseason. But from the betting accusations, to the significant on-court decline, to the hefty price tag— he is a negative asset across the league.
Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports Network recently iterated that, at this point, the Heat would be willing to offload Rozier for “just about anything.”
“The Miami Heat, from coaches to front office officials, were as mystified by Terry Rozier’s decline as fans were last season.”
“The Heat have been actively shopping the expiring final year of Rozier’s contract (worth $24-26 million depending on incentives) for just about anything, but specifically frontcourt help.”
— Ethan Skolnick
It would be fair to think that somebody in the league would be willing to take on Rozier’s expiring contract with the goal of opening up cap space next summer. However, it’s easier said than done to assume a team would eat dead money on their books for this upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
That $24-26 million contract particularly hurts the Heat now considering that’s ample money that they could’ve utilized to strengthen other parts of the roster. Most notably their gaping hole at the backup center position.
Rozier may go down as the worst trade in Miami Heat franchise history.
During the initial first 1-2 months of Rozier’s tenure in Miami, he was showing signs. There was a five-game stretch where the guard averaged nearly 30 points per game and displayed an ability to be a clutch-time shot maker.
Then he suffered a mysterious season-ending neck injury, and was never the same since.
Last season, Rozier averaged an abysmal 10.6 points and 2.6 assists on just 39% shooting and 29.5% from deep across 25.9 minutes. It was his lowest scoring, shooting efficiency and playing time since 2018.
Spoelstra attempted to resurrect Rozier’s season last year by eventually moving him to a sixth man role, but the same on-court struggles were shown. And now that Miami has been unable to find a trade partner, they have no choice but to just let his contract expire and move on from the failed experiment.
The only other option would be hoping for a bounce back campaign from Rozier (wishful thinking), or waiting to see if a suitor looking for cap space emerges by the trade deadline.
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Check out Hot Hot Hoops on Facebook here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
Attaching a draft pick just to get rid of Terry would be the worst decision. Either just let his contract expire or trade him during the season to strenghten the team. His expiring contract will be attractive by the trade deadline even without a draft pick. And we cannot rule out the possibility (although very slim) that he will get his mojo back and increase his value.
Who knows, maybe “Scary Terry” shows up this preseason and gives Miami another option off the bench. If he is anything close to what he was in Charlotte, teams will be calling Riley about a trade. Who knows…maybe a trade of Herro and Rozier may be possible. There is nothing wrong in thinking positively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ4ETOkU8wI
Serbia – Slovenia full highlights.
https://youtu.be/4zaOdS_WgGc?si=kfEj3f86fkdWwxk-
Lets pretend he is injuried and forget about him.
In no time there will be next February, and a lot of teams interesting in expired contracts.
Every team has 2-3 overpaid players, some with long contracts, which doesn’t fit. Heat can find a good deal then.
Holy **** Jovic dunked 4 times in one game
This is not a drill
Noted
My concern would be that they do offload Rozier for peanuts, maybe even attaching a sweetener. I don’t want to go down the road AE describes below, so I won’t assume they are in the process of doing that as that would not be a smart move. I guess they are trying to trade him, and it’s not a bad idea to try to get some front court help, but not to the point of paying in assets to send him away.
I am glad that they have not been that desperate to trade him and so far they have not done that. They should hang onto Terry and see how he does, especially since some of this devaluing of Terry is associated with the case pending around him. You know darn well if not for that case someone would take a flyer on him. Because he is innocent till proven guilty the Heat should give him a chance to make a comeback. Worst case scenario, his contract expires.
Exactly
Absolutely!
“…they might need to now do the same if they want to get off of Rozier’s. Doing so would be a complete malpractice…”
This is the definition of manufactured outrage. You’ve invented a thing, and you’ve said that the FO might “need” to do it, and then you immediately say that if they do the made up thing that you just said they need to do, it’s “complete malpractice.”
There is literally no way for the FO to win in this scenario. Either they’ve failed to do the thing you claim they need to do, or they are committing malpractice.
I swear, the moment we’re not in the Finals for more than a year, the fanbase forgets how to think.
The tone towards the front office has changed by the local writers a little lately. The Duncan trade created a faint murmur, and the HH trade seemed to have brought criticism from voices that previously were more reluctant to do so.
That’s kind of what I’m talking about. Like, for *months* it felt like I was arguing with folks every day who said we should just cut Duncan and eat the $10 million that he had guaranteed. Then we put together a sign-and-trade that only costs us $8 million, and we get to keep an asset (value as yet undetermined) in the deal, and people go crazy. It’s fine to think we needed to cut Duncan. It’s fine to think we could have gotten more for him. It’s insanity to hold both thoughts at once.
With Highsmith, I get it a bit more. But, like, name another time that people got *this* upset over a guy who was struggling to crack the top-10 in a rotation. Highsmith was a great story, and had some decent skills, and it sucks that we gave him away (plus a 2nd round pick) for basically nothing. But people have been treating it like we just shot Old Yeller.
And I’m just so friggin’ tired of everybody being so friggin’ angry about a team that was in the NBA Finals two years ago, and hasn’t missed the playoffs in six years.
You’re right Emily. Folks are definitely overreacting. We’ve lost several players in free agency in recent years for nothing, but look at Vincent, Martin, Strus now. Would you rather pay them and keep them? I don’t think many people would. I liked all of them when they were with the Heat, but with the strict budgetary restrictions that are in place in the NBA letting all of them go turned out to be a good decision afterall. It happens all around the league all the time. Clippers let Norman Powell leave basically for nothing and he is a better player than our undrafted guys. I don’t get this bad asset management criticism.
Just go back to the previous post. Let his contract run out. Do not attach any draft capital to trade him. A team may need an expiring contract at the trade deadline.
That’s how I see it.