The Miami Heat have been a team to watch ahead of the trade deadline given the drama surrounding star Jimmy Butler. Butler is widely expected to be traded ahead of the deadline, but momentum has seemingly slowed in recent days, potentially forcing them to play a player who clearly doesn't want to be there while his value continues to diminish.
That puts the Heat in a bad spot, particularly with them near the bottom half of the Eastern Conference standings, but a prior trade is actually to blame. Last January, the Heat traded Kyle Lowry and a protected first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Terry Rozier.
The move was seen as a means to upgrade their weakest position—point guard—after they previously struck out on acquiring Damian Lillard, with Rozier supposedly being a middle-class version of him. However, the Heat's decision to trade for Rozier has come back to bite them in several ways. For one, he hasn't worked out at all for Miami, who likely regret trading for him.
Not just that but they gave up a first for the privledge of acquring him and that has impacted their ability to make moves. After all, that pick is top 14 protected in 2027 and unprotected in 2028. If Miami manages to remain middling over the next couple of seasons, it's entirely possible that that pick could end up being a lottery selection.
The Miami Heat made a huge mistake by trading for Terry Rozier.
Had the Heat not made that trade, they could have better built around Butler, which was a major point of contention between him and the team. The Heat failed to add more talent around Butler after their surprise 2023 NBA Finals run. Now, Miami is potentially forced to move on from Butler and retool their roster. They do have a rising star in Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, though he hasn't had the best season.
That is more than what most teams have to work with in terms of a rebuild, but they must be careful not to further hurt their team by making another bad deal. That means they should be leery of making a Butler trade to say the Phoenix Suns for Bradley Beal.
Especially with him owed $110 million over the next two seasons, $58 million more than Butler over the remainder of their deals. However, if they could get additional assets such as Ryan Dunn and a 2031 first, then that might be enough to get them to move on from Butler and the aftermath of the Rozier trade and into a new era.