In the early hours of Monday, the Miami Heat found themselves involved in a deal that was, quite frankly, difficult to pass up on. The Heat acquired fringe All-Star-caliber player Norman Powell in a three-team trade involving the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers and needed to give up just Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love, and a second-round pick.

For that price, getting Powell was a no-brainer. For all the flak the Heat front office has caught for their hardball way of conducting business in trades, this was a steal even if Powell didn’t play his best basketball for the Clippers in their first-round series exit against the Denver Nuggets.

Nonetheless, even with Powell joining Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, and Andrew Wiggins, it’s not likely for the Heat to be anything more than a middle-seeded playoff team even though they reside in the wide-open Eastern Conference. There are some moves the Heat have to make still, and they at least appear to have the assets to swing this deal if need be.

Here is the next trade the Heat must make after acquiring Powell.

Heat trade Terry Rozier for prime bounce-back candidate Marcus Smart

Heat acquire: Marcus Smart

Wizards acquire: Terry Rozier

At this point, Terry Rozier is just hogging up some valuable space on the Heat’s cap sheet. When he was acquired in early 2024 in a trade that saw the Heat gave up a lottery-protected 2028 first-round pick for him, he was a flamethrower for the Charlotte Hornets who was averaging over 23 points per game. Since then, Rozier has been on the decline, and suffice to say, he hasn’t met expectations at all in South Beach.

In fact, Rozier was investigated for his potential involvement in a betting scandal, and though he was cleared, it’s been rather apparent that his head isn’t in the right space and he’s not long for the Heat organization. During the 2024-25 campaign, Rozier was dismal, averaging just 10.6 points on 39.1 percent shooting from the field and amid a season of flux with the Jimmy Butler situation and all, it was shocking for Rozier to end up being a complete shell of his former self.

A change of scenery might be the move for Rozier, as even his first half season in Miami did not yield the results he had when he was playing in Charlotte. Sometimes, it simply does not work out for a player in a particular context, and there has been more than enough evidence that Rozier isn’t the best fit with the Heat.

At the very least, Rozier’s contract is expiring at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, so it’s not like the Heat will be stuck with a potential albatross on their books for the long-term. But with the Heat always looking to remain semi-competitive, it should be in the best interest for them to find a way to improve the roster using the $26.6 million remaining on his deal.

Rozier has negative trade value, but with the Heat not having too many draft assets at their disposal, it’s unlikely for them to swing a trade for an impact player. They will have to part ways with perhaps their 2026 or 2030 first-rounder to do so. And the Heat might not want to be that aggressive considering they’re not among the teams with a legitimate chance to win it all come next year.

Trading Rozier for another depressed asset might be the way. And with that, why not approach the Washington Wizards on a potential one on one swap for Marcus Smart, who’s in the final year of his contract making $21.6 million.

Smart has endured a difficult past two seasons, playing in just 54 games combined during that span. But when healthy, he’s shown flashes of being the lockdown 3-and-D guard he’s been throughout his career. Alas, it’s possible that Smart is never healthy again and that he hangs it up within the next year or so considering how badly the past two seasons have gone for him on the injury front.

Smart seems to pick up little knocks here and there, which have added up and contributed to him not being his best self even if he’s just 31 years of age. But perhaps he finds himself rejuvenated with the Heat’s training regimen, and if Miami manages to nurse him back to full health, he’d be a valuable backcourt piece, giving the Heat a lockdown defensive backcourt duo with him and Davion Mitchell.

Giving up a second-round pick to buy low on Smart isn’t too high of a price to pay, and Smart has more impact upside than Rozier does, making it worth the risk to get ahead of the competition with many teams looking to take a chance on the former Defensive Player of the Year should he hit the buyout market.