CHICAGO — The confounding status of Terry Rozier took another twist Wednesday, with the Miami Heat deciding to retain the veteran guard even though he no longer is with the team.
Faced with a 5 p.m. deadline to waive Rozier to free up a roster spot and recoup at least a portion of his salary against the salary cap, the Heat allowed that deadline to pass.
Instead, the entirety of Rozier’s $26.6 million salary became guaranteed, even as uncertainty remains over whether he will see any of that money.
While Jan. 10 technically is the NBA’s annual guarantee date, players have to clear the 48-hour waiver period in order for all salary not to be guaranteed. That effectively made the deadline 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The choice with Rozier, who has been placed on NBA leave as he faces federal charges in the FBI’s gambling probe, was twofold.
Had the Heat waived Rozier, they would have cleared his roster spot, as well as $1.7 million in salary-cap space (the non-guaranteed portion of his contract), enough to add a player and still remain below the onerous luxury tax.
By not waiving Rozier, the Heat now are positioned, should they choose, to attempt to utilize Rozier’s entire 2025-26 salary in a potential deal by the Feb. 5 NBA trading deadline.
The reality is with or without Rozier, the Heat still have a vacant roster spot and the space below the cap to add a player to the standard roster, should they so choose.
While the NBA has not offered definitive clarity on whether Rozier’s salary can be put into play in a trade as he remains on league leave, the presumption is such permission would be granted if the Heat presented a trade to the league office.
As it is, Rozier’s salary is being held in an escrow-type interest-bearing account. The National Basketball Players Association recently went to arbitration to end such withholding. That ruling is expected to come later this month.
Also, Rozier’s attorney has filed a motion to have the government’s charges dropped, citing a U.S. Supreme Court precedent that could stand in Rozier’s favor. The next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for March.
Rozier is in the final season of the contract the Heat acquired when they added Rozier in the January 2024 trade that sent Kyle Lowry and a first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets.
Rozier has not played for the Heat this season, arrested in Orlando in the early-morning hours the day after the Heat’s Oct. 22 season-opening road loss to the Magic.
Even with Rozier removed from the team, he remains on the Heat’s roster, accounting for one of the 15 allowed standard roster spots, with his salary continuing to count against the Heat’s salary cap and luxury tax.
During a Dec. 16 media session at the NBA Cup in Las Vegas, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he appreciated the Heat’s predicament.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” he said. “And 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.”
Among league options beyond the salary cap and luxury tax could be a form of relief for the first-round pick still due to the Hornets. That selection is lottery protected in 2027 or otherwise unprotected in 2028. The Heat hold their own first-round pick in this June’s draft.
The charges involving Rozier date to his time with the Hornets, in a game he pulled himself early that featured several “under” proposition bets by those known to be Rozier associates.
Rozier, 31, was arraigned last month in Brooklyn federal court, pleading not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was released on $3 million bond secured by his home in South Florida.
In his comments on the situation last month, Silver said, “This is an unfortunate circumstance. But sometimes there’s these unique events, and maybe sometimes they require a unique solution. So we’ll be looking at this with the Heat and the other teams in the league, and see if there’s any satisfactory relief. But at the moment, there is none.”