Heat guarantee final $1.7M of Terry Rozier's contract and may seek to trade him

Miami has about $1.6 million in salary cap space. The Heat had to make the roster decision by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The ideal move for Miami would seem to be trading Rozier before the NBA's Feb. 5 deadline to a team interesting in acquiring an expiring contract. It is still unclear if the NBA would allow Rozier's contract to be moved, but Commissioner Adam Silver said last month that the league is willing to work with the Heat on a resolution.

“This is an unprecedented situation,” Silver said at the NBA Cup final in Las Vegas. “I think I’m incredibly sympathetic to the Heat and to their fans. But I think we’re going to try to work something through, work this out with them. But there’s no obvious solution here. ... Sometimes there’s unique events and maybe sometimes they require unique solutions.”

The Heat acquired Rozier from the Charlotte Hornets on Jan. 23, 2024 in exchange for Kyle Lowry and a 2027 first-round draft pick. That trade came about 10 months after, according to federal officials, Rozier helped gamblers cash in by tipping off a friend that he would leave a March 2023 game early because of a supposed injury. The friend, Deniro “Niro” Laster, who is also charged, shared or sold the information to others, who placed more than $250,000 in proposition bets, prosecutors said.

The NBA was aware of unusual prop bet activity surrounding Rozier's performance in that Hornets game against the New Orleans Pelicans; it was flagged by sportsbooks that afternoon. The league looked into the matter and did not find enough evidence to sanction Rozier and has since noted Rozier cooperated with that probe. The Hornets have not said if they were aware of any federal probes into Rozier's conduct at that time.

Details of the federal investigation were not disclosed to the Heat when the trade was made. It seems unlikely that Miami would have gone forward with the trade had it known there was a potential of charges being filed.

Rozier's lawyers have asked for the charges against him to be thrown out, arguing that the government overreached by turning a private dispute over bettors’ use of nonpublic information into a federal case. Rozier has pleased not guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy charges. He was released on $3 million bond and is due back in court in March.

Rozier was arrested in the early-morning hours of Oct. 23, the day after Miami's season-opening game at Orlando. His charges were part of a sweep of more than 30 other people — including Portland coach Chauncey Billups — in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations: one that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and another involving rigged, Mafia-backed poker games.

It's possible that the Heat will ask the NBA for relief, such as not having to convey the 2027 first-round pick that they owe to the Hornets.

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