LOS ANGELES — You start here with the reality that the Miami Heat most likely were going to carry into the season before the FBI patted itself on the back by creating the moniker “Operation Nothing But Bet”: Terry Rozier was not going to play for the Miami Heat this season while counting $26.6 million against the salary cap and luxury tax.
And where do the Heat stand at the moment in the wake of Rozier’s gambling arrest?
Terry Rozier not playing for the Miami Heat this season while counting $26.6 million against the salary cap and luxury tax.
Yes, the federal gambling charges and his arrest have cast Rozier’s lack of availability in more concrete terms.
But the immediate consternation of the Heat being forced to deal with a duality of lack of availability and ongoing cap hit seems a bit rash, considering we are one week removed from the almost incomprehensible sight of an NBA player appearing in shackles to face gambling charges in Orlando federal court.
For Commissioner Adam Silver to immediately turn to payroll minutiae hardly would have been the best look. Imagine: “Yes one of our players got caught up in an alleged gambling scheme, but we first must consider the salary cap.”
Already there has been the initial NBA step of stopping payment on Rozier’s salary, instead holding it in an interest-bearing account, what some might consider escrow. Rozier cashing in on paydays hardly would have been the best of looks.
But this also is a nascent stage of the season. Teams typically fall in love with their rosters early, hardly are looking to snap into action on the trade market. And the luxury tax is not computed until season’s end, with wiggle room at least currently in place.
Plus, also consider that when the Rozier trade was made in January 2024, the Heat seemingly were desperate to offload Kyle Lowry in the wake of his flailing play and rebuke of Erik Spoelstra benching him.
It can’t be taken for granted that the trade would have been scuttled if the Heat were told of a gambling investigation of Rozier that Silver has since said had been closed by the NBA.
Think back to January 2024, with the Heat seven months removed from an NBA Finals appearance, scrambling to maintain contending relevance. Also consider that Terry Rozier was averaging 23.2 points per game for Charlotte at that time.
Now moving forward, also keep in mind that had the Heat prior to training camp agreed to a buyout with Rozier or even waived him to recoup the small amount of non-guaranteed money on his contract, then all this immediate consternation would be moot. The money would have been paid, remained on the Heat books, on the cap, on the tax, in Rozier’s pocket. And, yes, all of that was on the table prior to training camp, including discussions of a buyout, according to an NBA source.
What has been most aggrieved in this case is the NBA’s reputation, which is Silver’s priority when it comes to all 30 teams.
Eventually, he can get around to the Heat, who play on without Terry Rozier just as they intended to play on (even with word of Rozier having been impressive in training camp).
Yes, a week ago in this space there was a call for the league to come to some type of compromise with the draft pick still due from the Heat to the Hornets to complete that Rozier-Lowry trade, one that could come due as soon as 2027. Logic still points to some sort of compensatory selection in that first round, since the Hornets, as trade dynamics dictate, revealed only what they needed to reveal about Rozier at the time.
As for the Heat’s cap, tax and even roster situation, the NBA Constitution has ample leeway regarding “absolute and sole discretion of the Commissioner.”
So in the short term, as the next steps from Silver, what should follow:
— Immediate relief to allow the Heat to fill the 14th (Rozier) and 15th (vacant) spots on the standard roster with salaries at the veteran minimum, with assurances that such signings would not impact the cap, tax or aprons.
The union hardly should have an issue there, since it would be adding salary and jobs into the player pool.
The precedent also would provide teams with a blueprint in case their rosters would be so impacted by such matters going forward.
— The listing of the Heat as holding the No. 31 pick in the 2027 first round of the NBA draft.
That would allow the Heat the opportunity to then trade up to four future first round picks ahead of the February trading deadline, should such an opportunity arise.
As for the actual placement of that 2027 first-rounder – including how the Hornets might factor into such an action – the league would have almost two years to adjudicate the intricacies of such an unprecedented move,
— At worst, turning Rozier’s leave into a league suspension (in this case with pay), which, in turn, returns 50% of each Rozier game check into the Heat’s cap, therefore offering incremental cap/tax relief leading up to the trading deadline, perhaps as other aspects of the Rozier case surface.
IN THE LANE
TAKING TIME: As so often was the case during Duncan Robinson‘s time in Miami, the Detroit Pistons are preaching patience when it comes to the rough patch to start the season by the former Heat 3-point specialist. “Chemistry takes time to build,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff told the Detroit News. “He knows how to play. He knows how to find his shots. His teammates are learning how to get him the ball when he is open.” Bickerstaff still views the acquisition as a net gain. “He helps your offense keep ticking so teams have to keep chasing you throughout the clock,” he said.
FROM THE ROOM: With Heat coach Erik Spoelstra going Thursday night against San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, it was yet another matchup for Spoelstra against a fellow former video coordinator. That had Spoelstra ruminating on what the job has become. “The amount of work a video room can do now is 10x what I used to do,” Spoelstra said. “I tell our video guys all the time, I was on easy street compared to what they do now. Because now all the assistant coaches have projects for them, all of them dive into everything. Not only scouts, but analyzing our own stuff, analyzing trends, analyzing other teams, analyzing Europe, doing analytics. We didn’t do any of that stuff back then.”
BUT STILL: That, Spoelstra said, doesn’t mean his players are watching more video than ever. “But in terms of how it’s changing, it’s actually kind of going the other direction,” he said. “I remember with our championship teams, we used to watch an hour of film a day. Now you can watch, what, seven minutes before they’re starting to catch butterflies? I don’t know, it’s changing.”
STILL WAITING: Among those the Heat didn’t get to see either in the preseason matchup against the Spurs or on Thursday night in San Antonio was former Heat big man Kelly Olynyk. But that doesn’t mean the Spurs don’t have plans for the 34-year-old veteran, who was with the Heat from 2017 to ’21. “He’s seen the whole league, I think he’s been with six or seven teams,” the Spurs’ Johnson noted to San Antonio’s Express News, actually selling Olynyk one team short of the 7-footer’s eight. “Some have won a ton, some have lost a ton. He’s very skilled. He’s played a few different positions in terms of what his role’s been on certain teams he played with. And I think he’ll be someone we can fit with quite a few lineups and will really be able to help us as the season goes on.”
MAKES SENSE: Ahead of his team being obliterated to the tune of 146 points a week ago by the Heat, Memphis Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo sung the praises of the Heat’s drive-and-kick attacking offense. “It’s based on a lot of dribble drive attacks creating gaps for the drivers and then having very logical counters to what the defense does, so occupying space rationally while other guys are driving, so that you can always punish if the driver is stopped, you have to bring the second defender over, and that means somebody should be open in that situation,” he said. “My experience is it’s a great tool, especially attacking directly out of transition, because you don’t have to get into any actions. If you have players who have the skill level to get past their own guys, but also to make reads on a unit level, with bigs that can shoot, you really have a lot of variability, you can put the defense into a bind.”
FOND MEMORIES: In the wake of last week’s announcement that longtime Heat public-address announcer Mike Baiamonte would be retiring at season’s end, Spoelstra reflected on the booming baritone. “My kids and my household, when we’re trying to leave or go somewhere, ‘Dos Minutos!’ in our house,” Spoelstra said of one of Baiamonte’s signature calls. “Yeah, it’s awesome for him. I’m happy for him. Hopefully we can convince him otherwise. We’ve got a season to convince him to stay. But, yeah, what an iconic voice. It’s been a lot of fun over the years. He’s really a special guy and I’m glad we’ll be able to celebrate him for a whole season. Kind of sad about it, too.”
NUMBER
3. NBA coaches to win at least 900 combined career regular-season and playoff games with a single franchise. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra reached that total with Tuesday night’s victory over the Charlotte Hornets at Kaseya Center. The others with 900 or more with a single franchise are Gregg Popovich‘s 1,560 with the San Antonio Spurs and the late Jerry Sloan‘s 1,223 with the Utah Jazz.