In a perfect world, the Miami Heat wouldn't have to look Terry Rozier's direction. At least not this early into the 2025-26 NBA season.
Of course, one glance at the non-existent external expectations for this team shows the Heat are worlds removed from perfection. That's why Terry Rozier, an afterthought to this point, suddenly appears to be serving next-man-up duties with Tyler Herro and Kasparas Jakucionis both trapped on the injury report.
The Heat don't have to hand over minutes to Rozier, but with only Davion Mitchell and Dru Smith in the lead guard rotation, they're clearly running short on viable alternatives. And maybe that's not the worst thing in the world, since Rozier has been a productive player in the not-so-distant past.
Terry Rozier has mostly been a mess in Miami, but there are good things to find on his resume.
If Miami was offered a mulligan on one personnel decision in its recent history, the Jan. 2024 trade for Rozier would absolutely be the do-over. It is, frankly, almost impossible to imagine even a best-case-scenario season in which the Heat suddenly feels OK with giving up a future first-round pick to get him. (While it's lottery-protected in 2027, it would become unprotected in 2028 if it doesn't convey right away.)
And that's fine. It is, objectively speaking, still a freakin' bummer, but it's already a sunk cost. The Heat shouldn't bother hoping they can justify a trade that clearly wasn't in their best interest.
What should have them crossing their fingers, though, is the chance for some redemption for Rozier. He obviously needs it, but Miami might quietly need him, too.
Look, there's a reason the Heat paid a not insignificant cost to get him in the first place. Even if it was problematically short-sighted, he is—or at least has been—a talented player at a position of need.
At the time of the exchange, Rozier was in the midst of a five-year run of averaging 19.7 points and 4.7 assists. He shot 37.2 percent from three during this stretch (on 7.6 attempts per game, by the way) and committed just 1.8 turnovers in 34.2 minutes a night.
Miami has very little reason to believe Rozier can suddenly supply that kind of production, but even if he's half as productive, the Heat and their perpetually bottom-third offense couldn't use double-digit scoring, efficient shooting, and a smattering of assists from its second-unit lead guard? Would anyone be comfortable betting Miami will surely squeeze that out of Mitchell or Smith?
Oh, and Rozier's numbers largely ascended during that stretch, by the way. During the 2023-24 season, he averaged 19.8 points on 44.3/36.3/86.9 shooting with 5.6 assists against 1.7 turnovers. And that was with his stats largely stalling upon his midseason move to Miami.
He has been a good player in this league before. If he's even a passable one now, that probably counts as a win for the Heat given the lack of expectations around him.
If Miami is going to surprise folks around the Association, it'll have to benefit from some internal surprises along the way. Getting consistently rotation-quality minutes out of Rozier would certainly qualify, and there's at least a non-zero chance it can happen.