So much about the Miami Heat’s current direction can be traced back to the Terry Rozier trade they never should have made. That includes their Haywood Haywood Highsmith dump, and their overall proximity to the luxury tax.
On the most fundamental level, having Rozier’s $26.6 million inflates the payroll. Miami may not have needed to offload Highsmith—while forking over a 2027 second-round pick in the process—if a cheaper player was in Rozier’s place.
Prioritizing immediate savings in 2024 by shipping out Kyle Lowry’s expiring deal is perhaps the cardinal sin for this front office. It didn’t just tack on long-term money the Heat are paying for now. It also cost a loosely protected first-round pick, the absence of which has since hamstrung Miami’s best possible trade packages.
Most recently, though, the Rozier trade put the Heat in a position that just about dictated they unload Highsmith, a useful three-and-D type when healthy, earning a team-friendly $5.6 million. Granted, the acquisition of Norman Powell increased the payroll, leaving Miami over the tax. We also can’t be sure how much Highsmith’s injury and pending free agency factored into the equation.
Still, the timing of it all remains curious. Miami had all season to duck the tax. It could have kept Highsmith, signed Erik Spoelstra favorite Dru Smith, and figured out how to shave $4 to $5 million later.
Or maybe not.
Heat have run out of realistic salaries to dump
A deeper look at the Heat’s roster shows a dearth, if not a total absence, of entirely dispensable players. Tyler Herro, and Andrew Wiggins aren’t getting moved independent of a blockbuster deal. Davion Mitchell was just signed, and can’t be dealt until the middle of December. Simone Fontecchio is far from untouchable, but also potentially their best shooter.
Pretty much all of the Heat’s cheaper players, meanwhile, remain in their draft-prospect or team-flier era.
Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Pelle Larsson, Nikola Jovic, and even Keshad Johnson aren’t players you just dump for nothing. Ducking the tax also, in most cases, would have required moving more than one of them anyway.
The cost trading Rozier will be too high
That leaves Rozier. Except, his salary is so massive, Miami can’t just convert him into cap relief.
It required a distant second-rounder to get off Highsmith’s $5.6 million. It would cost a first-round pick—and potentially more—to reroute Rozier’s $26.6 million price point in service of saving a bunch of money.
This doesn’t invalidate the skepticism getting hurled the Heat’s way now. The reality of their books doesn’t excuse making a premature call. They didn’t have to make the Highsmith deal now—or perhaps at all. Simply feeling the need to, though, is yet another reminder in a long line of many that they’re not done paying for the Rozier trade.