The Miami Heat needed some offensive pop and they got it Tuesday with a trade that got them Terry Rozier from the Charlotte Hornets, according to multiple reports.
Rozier goes to the Heat and Charlotte gets Kyle Lowry and a protected 2027 first-round draft pick. The Hornets are beginning to accumulate assets ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. The lottery-protected pick in 2027 could become unprotected in 2028, according to the reports.
Rozier is having a career offensive season, averaging 23.2 points and shooting 46% from the floor.
Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from this trade.
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Winner: Terry Rozier is again on a contender, now with the Miami Heat
Rozier played his first four NBA seasons with the Boston Celtics as that team was beginning to gear up for sustained success.
The Celtics made two Eastern Conference finals during Rozier’s tenure, losing both times to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, in 2016-17 and 2017-18. They made the conference semis in 2019 and Rozier was traded in the offseason.
With the Hornets, Rozier has played on just one winning team with no playoff appearances.
The other difference is that this time around, Rozier will be a contributor. While with the Celtics, he mostly came off the bench and played limited minutes. With the Heat, he will be a starter and will be counted on heavily.
Other teams were interested in Rozier, including the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Winner: Miami Heat gets scoring they need to compete in the East
Miami has been trying to add some scoring punch to the lineup since before the season began to give added offensive pop with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
They went after Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell and Bradley Beal. None of those deals worked out. Now they get a guy averaging around 24 points per game.
The Heat rank 20th in the league in offensive rating (28th in offensive efficiency during January), 20th in effective field goal percentage and 17th in true shooting percentage. Rozier should help them in all three of those categories.
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Loser: Kyle Lowry goes to a team that is going nowhere
For an 18-year veteran with an NBA title on his resume like Lowery, this move stinks.
Lowry gets shipped to a team with 10 wins (and maybe only one real “good” win) and a fairly bleak outlook for the future.
The Hornets could put another package together to move Lowry to a contending team or they could cut him and he could re-sign with the Heat or another contender.