As the Miami Heat enter a critical offseason after being eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team could be making some crucial decisions involving trades. With the Heat expected to make big changes, some could be going after a big star, but there could be players who might have played their last season on the team.
When answering the question on what player on Miami needs to be traded in the offseason, there seems to be one answer that is repeated, which is guard Terry Rozier. There's no denying the frustrating season Rozier had for the team, turning in quite possibly his worst of his career, falling out of the rotation by the end of the year, even when he was thought to be one of the top players for the team.
This past season, Rozier averaged 10.6 points, 3,7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from beyond the arc in 64 games. The points per game are the lowest since the 2018-19 season, with the Boston Celtics, as the field goal percentage and three-point percentage are the lowest since his rookie season in 2015-16.
Heat's Terry Rozier was plagued by a neck issue last season
As the Heat star in Rozier struggled mightily during the season, one has to wonder if the neck injury at the end of the 2023-24 season impacted his play at all. Missing the rest of his first season in Miami with the neck issue was the start of the many shortcomings for Rozier, as he spoke about the difficulty heading into this past season, according to The Miami Herald.
“I’m not really a guy who tries to backtrack on a lot of things,” Rozier said. “I just try to move forward and see where life can take me. But obviously, I don’t think anybody wants to go through something like that. To have a neck injury and then have to miss the playoffs, which is one of the main reasons that you came to this organization. Then you have to reset all over again, sit out, and not do things that are part of your typical summer. You got to work on just trying to get strength in your neck, and you can’t touch the court. So it’s a little different. But I just still appreciate everything. I’m still playing, I’m healthy.”
Going into this season, there were many expectations on Rozier starting alongside Tyler Herro in the backcourt, where it would be explosive for the first four games of the season, averaging close to 20 points per game. However, taking a backseat to Herro's emergence along with the offensive share of Adebayo and Jimmy Butler at the time, Rozier lost the groove and never consistently found it.
Heat's Terry Rozier on the neck issue impacting his season
Looking at Rozier's struggles with the Heat, he doesn't want to pinpoint the neck injury from the first season as the reason, but there's no doubt it was a “different” experience for him.
“If I had an amazing season, nobody would have talked about that,” Rozier said via The Miami Herald in March. “I think it’s just something that we nitpick on if something isn’t going right. But this summer was definitely different than any summer that I’ve ever been in. Me being able to not touch the ball and me being able to not touch the court for however long that was, was just super different for me, especially being a guy who loves ball and wants to get out there. So it was different. But like I said, I just appreciate everything — the struggles, everything. And hopefully things turn around.”
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“I was always told you’re never as good as they say you are, you’re never as bad as they say you are,” Rozier said. “You just got to keep yourself grounded, stay in the middle. Can’t get too high, can’t get too low. People are going to say whatever they want to say. But I just look at it as like, nobody wants me to play well as much as I do. So it’s tough, it’s tough. “But at the end of the day, you just got to be thankful that you’re blessed from the man upstairs that you can still put a jersey on and you can be talked about it. Whether it’s good or bad, I still look at it as a plus.”
Could a trade involving Heat's Terry Rozier happen?
Besides Rozier, the Heat's season was clouded with the Butler drama, which made the 30-year-old's performance another negative to the year. Currently, Rozier is the fourth-highest paid player on the team after Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and Andrew Wiggins, where he is due 26.6 million next season, but it's the final one of his current contract.
Regarding a possible trade, it could be difficult to make happen since teams could stray away due to how much he has regressed this season. However, a team could think Rozier would utilize his talents better when he is a primary ball-handler and scorer, plus his having an expiring contract could pique someone's interests.
It feels like an eternity ago when Miami traded Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick for Rozier, which general manager Andy Elisburg later said was the team's “free agent move,” just an early one since it was done before last season's deadline. Some have called it one of the worst trades in the team's history due to Rozier's play with the Heat.
“Our free agent move this year was the Terry [Rozier] move. We just decided to do it early… Probably took us out of being able to do something with the mid-level, with sign-and-trades because of the apron rules that prevent that.”
At any rate, it remains to be seen what happens with Rozier on Miami's roster, though it feels like a fresh start is needed for both sides.
