Terry Rozier’s Heat tenure now entering its final week, with two-way player expected to be elevated
· Yahoo Sports
MIAMI — The final week of Terry Rozier’s tenure is now at hand, with the Miami Heat within the next week having to waive the veteran guard in order to be able to sign a roster replacement, a replacement likely to be one of the team’s three current two-way players being upgraded to a standard contract.
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While players can be signed until the April 12 final day of the NBA season, in order to have Rozier clear waivers and open the 15th and final standard roster spot that Rozier currently occupies, he would have to be waived by 5 p.m. April 9. Such timing would allow Rozier to clear the 48-hour waiver period ahead of the season finale.
While Rozier’s status on the personnel market had been unclear earlier this season as he first was arrested in an FBI gambling probe and later charged with federal wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy, the Heat have been informed by the league that they are allowed to waive Rozier.
While Rozier has not played for the Heat this season, having been arrested in Orlando on Oct. 23 in the hours after the Heat’s regular-season opener against the Magic, his contract became fully guaranteed at the NBA’s Jan. 10 deadline, with an arbitrator later ruling the league could not withhold Rozier’s salary in an escrow-type account, as initially had been done.
Rozier, 31, was arraigned in December in Brooklyn federal court, pleading not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was released on a $3 million bond secured by his home in South Florida.
Should he be found guilty or reach a plea deal, it is possible the Heat would be able to claw back his salary, which this season has fully counted against the Heat’s salary cap and luxury tax.
The Heat bypassed a January opportunity to save the $1.7 million non-guaranteed portion of Rozier’s $26.6 million 2025-26 salary in order to sign another player, preferring to retain his salary for a possible deal at the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline. The Heat then were idle at the deadline, with Rozier listed nightly by the Heat as “not with team.”
The Heat also did not make a move at the March 1 buyout deadline, as Rozier remained on the Heat’s standard roster.
Among the prime reasons Rozier has yet to be waived, in light of being away from the team since his arrest, is that teams carrying a full complement of 15 players under standard contract are allowed to have players under two-way contract available more often.
When a team is operating at 14 or fewer under standard contract, the total number of games all of the team’s two-way players can be active on game nights is 90. Ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Celtics at Kaseya Center, the Heat’s three current two-way players have been active a combined 78 games.
Therefore, by waiting until next week’s deadline on a move with Rozier, it allows for greater leeway to have Vlad Goldin, Jahmir Young and Trevor Keels on the active roster more often over the next week.
As it is, one of those three is expected to be the likely candidate for promotion to a standard deal once Rozier is waived, depending on whether the choice is to go for size (Goldin), shooting (Keels) or a wing (Young). All three currently are with the Heat, with the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, eliminated from the G League playoff race in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
Other options for the Heat would be to sign a veteran player to the 15th and final standard roster spot, or a developmental player from another G League roster.
One possibility that could change the Heat thinking over the next week could be an injury to a rotation player that would require the addition of an outside veteran.
Only players under standard contract are eligible for the NBA postseason. Players who have been on other NBA rosters (outside of 10-day contracts) after March 1 are ineligible for another team’s postseason roster.
Rozier is accused of being part of an illegal betting scheme in which he allegedly alerted gamblers he intended to leave a game early in order to make money off a prop bet tied to his performance. That game was when he still was a member of the Charlotte Hornets.
The Heat last month was awarded a draft pick by the NBA in this June’s second round from the Hornets in light of Charlotte not making the Heat aware of Rozier being under gambling investigation while still with the Hornets. Rozier was traded to the Heat on Jan. 23, 2024, in exchange for Kyle Lowry and a future first-round pick that is top-14 protected in 2027 or otherwise unprotected in 2028.
Rozier, 31, will be an unrestricted free agent in July regardless of the Heat’s timing with his release.