If the Miami Heat are going to move on from Terry Rozier before his contract expires, it’s apparently going to cost them.

In his latest mailbag for the Sun Sentinel, Ira Winderman was asked if he could see another NBA team taking on the 31-year-old’s $26.4 million “straight up,” without the inclusion of anything else. His answer is not what Heat fans will want to read or hear.

“Based on last season’s performance and the outside swirl regarding Terry Rozer, I can’t see any takers without a sweetener,” writes Winderman. “And I can’t see the Heat adding a sweetener when they already send out a first-round pick for Terry that is coming due in 2027 or ’28.”

Basically, with Miami seemingly prioritizing future flexibility over any serious moves now, it’s starting to sound like Rozier won’t be going anywhere—at least not anytime soon.

Terry Rozier is not immovable but…

To be sure, this is not a situation in which the Heat absolutely won’t be able to trade Rozier. Expiring contracts, in particular, can always be rerouted.

Doing so without including a first-round pick, though, will almost assuredly require Miami taking back another player owed money beyond the 2025-26 season. That profiles as a no-go for the front office. The Heat could blow past $30 million in cap space next summer if Andrew Wiggins declines his player option, and have already surrendered some of their projected spending power by giving Davion Mitchell two guaranteed years on his current contract.

Now, Rozier could also be used as the primary salary-matching tool in a blockbuster swing by Miami. But this is predicated on the market yielding targets who are worth the Heat expediting their timeline—and nuking their long-term flexibility—during the middle of the season.

We know they are monitoring Giannis Antetokounmpo like it’s their full-time job, and he is definitely worth forking over any other assets they can dangle. The list gets dicey after him, in part because there are no obvious candidates. Is Jaylen Brown good enough for the Heat to act? What about LaMelo Ball? Or how about Coby White? Is there a surprise star trade target Miami is circling like a vulture we don’t yet know about?

Expiring contracts aren’t as easy to trade as they used to be

The other variable at play here is the decline in value of expiring contracts overall. Sure, they can be ultra-appealing when included in star packages, where the team at the other end is presumably looking to start over. Beyond that, though, they have lost their luster.

Blame the relative death of NBA free agency for that. Teams are no longer itching to position themselves for future cap space. Miami is among the few markets that can still get away with making it a priority, and even the Heat have to admit stars hardly ever reach free agency anymore, let alone leave for nothing once they do.

Look at what happened with Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart. Their teams let them broker a buyout rather than attempt to flip them for additional value prior to February’s trade deadline. These departures never would have unfolded like this in the past, months before the regular season tips off.

This same problem applies to Rozier. Even if he has a bounce-back year, his contract will never be considered valuable. So if the Heat want to get rid of him, they will have to expand the deal to include other assets—or submit to negotiating a buyout of their own.