The Miami Heat are potentially screaming something from the rooftops, and not enough people are picking up on the message: They may not have plans to do much of anything between now and the NBA’s February 5 trade deadline.
To the surprise of no one, their plans for Terry Rozier are the tell-all.
As Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel notes, the Heat are in the market for another big man, and are tracking the availability of a familiar face in Precious Achiuwa. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, however, Miami will not enter the tax to sign anyone. This has led to talk that the front office may waive Rozier to make room for another veteran’s minimum.
Though nothing is etched in stone, the implications of this decision are massive.
The Heat could severely limit their trade-deadline options
Waiving Rozier takes his cap hit from $26.6 million down to $24.9 million, saving Miami around $1.7 million. Going this route carves out enough room for the team to add Achiuwa or another big, and stay out of the tax.
It also leaves the Heat with $24.9 million in entirely dead money on the books. While this is preferable to having waived-and-stretched Rozier, it’s beyond limiting when looking at the prospect of potential midseason transactions.
Right now, the 31-year-old’s trade value exists exclusively as an expiring contract. No team is acquiring him with the hope he will help them, or with the intention of signing him to a new deal. Rozier represents cap relief in the face of sending out a more expensive and/or longer-term agreement.
That scenario goes out the window if the Heat simply pay him to go away. Granted, they have other larger contracts around which to construct deals. Norman Powell is on a $20.5 million expiring contract. Andrew Wiggins could be expiring at $28.2 million, depending on how he handles next summer’s $30.2 million player option.
Still, both Powell and Wiggins have on-court value to Miami. There is virtually no scenario in which using one or both of them as salary-matching money instead of Rozier makes any sense.
Trading for a superstar midseason gets more costly without Terry Rozier
This all hits harder when looking at the Heat’s ongoing pursuit of another star. Any blockbuster deal will likely require them to send out at least two sizable salaries. Keeping Rozier’s expiring money on the books could be the difference between trading one of Powell and Wiggins, and having to forfeit both of them.
Miami will invariably do whatever’s necessary if the right big name hits the auction block. It may also be resigned to waiting until next summer, after Giannis Antetokounmpo removed himself from the list of immediate options.
Even so, the Heat must plan around any and all scenarios. Giannis could become disenchanted 25 games into the Milwaukee Bucks’ schedule, and ask for out in January. Another marquee star will amble his way onto the market before February 5.
When they do, Rozier’s expiring contract will be critical to Miami's best package. It sounds bizarre. It’s nevertheless true. So if the Heat want to sign Achiuwa or someone else, waiving Rozier is not how they should go about it.