![\"Davion](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2025\/02\/28124113\/GettyImages-2201246952.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&fit=cover\")
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So much about the Miami Heat\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
On the most fundamental level, having Rozier\u2019s $26.6 million inflates the payroll. Miami may not have needed to offload Highsmith\u2014while forking over a 2027 second-round pick in the process\u2014if a cheaper player was in Rozier\u2019s place.<\/p>\n
Prioritizing immediate savings in 2024 by shipping out Kyle Lowry\u2019s expiring deal is perhaps the cardinal sin for this front office. It didn\u2019t 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\u2019s best possible trade packages.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t be sure how much Highsmith\u2019s injury and<\/em> pending free agency factored into the equation.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Or maybe not.<\/p>\n A deeper look at the Heat\u2019s roster shows a dearth, if not a total absence, of entirely dispensable players. Tyler Herro, and Andrew Wiggins aren\u2019t getting moved independent of a blockbuster deal. Davion Mitchell was just signed, and can\u2019t be dealt until the middle of December. Simone Fontecchio is far from untouchable, but also potentially their best shooter.<\/p>\n Pretty much all of the Heat\u2019s cheaper players, meanwhile, remain in their draft-prospect or team-flier era.<\/p>\n Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel\u2019el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Pelle Larsson, Nikola Jovic, and even Keshad Johnson aren\u2019t players you just dump for nothing. Ducking the tax also, in most cases, would have required moving more than one of them anyway.<\/p>\n That leaves Rozier. Except, his salary is so massive, Miami can\u2019t just convert him into cap relief.<\/p>\n It required a distant second-rounder to get off Highsmith\u2019s $5.6 million. It would cost a first-round pick\u2014and potentially more\u2014to reroute Rozier\u2019s $26.6 million price point in service of saving a bunch of money.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t invalidate the skepticism getting hurled the Heat\u2019s way now. The reality of their books doesn\u2019t excuse making a premature call. They didn\u2019t have<\/em> to make the Highsmith deal now\u2014or perhaps at all. Simply feeling the need to, though, is yet another reminder in a long line of many that they\u2019re not done paying for the Rozier trade.<\/p>\n The Terry Rozier trade is now more than a full season old, but the Heat are still feeling the ramifications of their flawed decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":90693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nHeat have run out of realistic salaries to dump<\/h2>\n
The cost trading Rozier will be too high<\/h2>\n