The Miami Heat have acquired Terry Rozier from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Kyle Lowry and a protected 2027 first-round pick.
Karalis’ analysis: Miami, who Boston will see on Thursday, obviously gets better in this deal. The 37-year-old Lowry’s career is just about over while Rozer, who turns 30 in March, is having one of the best shooting seasons of his career. Miami is trading away a guy averaging eight points a game to get someone scoring 23 points per game.
So the immediate advantage is obvious for a team in the bottom third of the league offensively. Rozier will provide an immediate scoring punch and playmaking for Miami while adding a capable defender to the backcourt.
This does nothing to address the lack of size in the backcourt, with the swapping bringing in a 6-foot-1 guard in exchange for a 6-foot guard. When it comes to the Boston Celtics, the addition of Rozier doesn’t match up well against Derrick White or Jrue Holiday, both of whom are 6-foot-4. It also doesn’t negate Boston’s ability to put someone like Payton Pritchard on the floor.
And Rozier is prone to streakiness. His effective field goal percentage, a stat that adds weight for 3-pointers, is generally below average. Even this season, at 53.5%, is still a full percentage point below the league’s average of 54.6%. He’s also not shy about shooting, which does make me wonder how he’ll be perceived by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in certain spots.
Rozier has always had the highest confidence, but while he can fill it up, it’s obvious that he didn’t have a major impact on winning in Charlotte. The Hornets had one winning season and never made the playoffs while he was there. Now he’ll test “Heat Culture,” which could unlock a level of Rozier we haven't seen, or it could lead to a hasty departure next season.
Rozier is under contract for two more seasons after this one at about $25 million per season. If it doesn’t work, Miami can probably find a suitor for him.
That's something they can worry about later. For now, they flipped Lowry into a scorer who also averages more than six assists per game. His ability to get to the rim and find teammates will be a big help to the Heat, who continue to find ways to extend Butler’s potential championship window. It doesn’t raise Miami to the level of Boston, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, but it keeps them near the top of that next group, challenging Indiana and their new acquisition of Pascal Siakam.
And of course, Miami always seems to get at least 25% more out of moves like this than we anticipate, so of course we should expect Rozier to drink the Heat Culture Kool-Aid, play the best basketball of his life, and push the Heat to another Eastern Conference Finals matchup with the Celtics. It doesn’t matter what we think about the deal on paper. Miami just always finds the most annoying way to get the most out of everything they do.
For what it’s worth, Charlotte is done with its current iteration and is trying to retool around LaMelo Ball. They're going to try to flip Kyle Lowry somewhere, but I don’t know where that would be. He makes nearly $30 million so no contender is going to trade for him. At this point, it’s buyout or bust for him. And for the record, Boston can’t acquire anyone on the buyout market making more than the mid-level exception, so that means Lowry and Gordon Hayward, another guy Charlotte will likely move on from, are not options for Boston.
