The Miami Heat are fighting to secure a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference for the sixth consecutive season, but the team is rumored to trade one of its veteran guards before the 2025 deadline.
Miami Heat Trade Rumors: Terry Rozier, Jimmy Butler Are Among The Team’s “Top Trade Candidates”
HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto reported Monday that Terry Rozier is among Miami’s “top trade candidates” alongside Jimmy Butler and the team’s future first-round draft picks.
Scotto underscored the Heat’s recent decision to move Rozier to the bench and that he “is owed $24.92 million this season and is guaranteed $24.92 million next season, with another $1.72 million non-guaranteed.”
Rozier’s remaining salary becomes fully guaranteed if his team reaches the conference semifinals and he appears in at least 70 regular-season games. This means it would be a smart financial move for Miami to trade Rozier before that happens.
The 6-foot-1 Rozier, who’s in his 10th season, is also playing his worst offensively since 2018-19 with the Boston Celtics. Through 17 games (12 starts), he’s averaging 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 29.5 minutes per contest.
Additionally, Rozier is shooting 40.2% from the field and 36,1% from 3-point range, both his lowest shooting percentages since 2018-19. The Louisville product has also posted single-digit scoring totals in three of his last seven games.
Rozier, 30, peaked in 2022-23 with the Charlotte Hornets, when he averaged career highs of 21.1 points, 5.1 assists, and 35.5 minutes per game while shooting 41.5% from the floor and 32.7% from beyond the arc.
Coach Erik Spoelstra Has Played Rozier Off The Miami Bench As Part Of His Rotation Reconfiguration
Since leaving Charlotte, Rozier has not displayed the same level of offensive production. Despite his importance to Miami’s offense, a trade could potentially be in the works to help the Ohio native rediscover his catch-and-shoot and ball-handling skills.
“Whatever role this is, he’s really important,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Rozier over the weekend. “And we just want him to fast track to get comfortable, and being comfortable and being himself, and being aggressive. Everybody wants him to be aggressive.”
For a week now, after five weeks this season and four years prior to starting, Rozier has played off the Heat bench as part of Spoelstra’s rotation reconfiguration.
“A little adjustment,” Rozier said of the role reversal. “But it’s part of it, it’s part of it. I’m finishing the game. I appreciate Spo for that.”
The Heat are expected to make a move soon since the team sits in the middle of the Eastern Conference with a 9-10 roster and cannot compete with the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, and others.
In the end, Miami could very well trade Rozier and keep Butler.
That would allow the front office to reset the roster without overhauling the entire team. If Heat president Pat Riley had to make a choice between the veteran stars, Rozier could be the odd man out.
If Miami retains both Rozier and Butler, the offense may require Rozier to make a larger effort in playing as a catch-and-shoot scorer, similar to the transformation of teammate Tyler Herro.
