The Heat and Wizards held trade talks on guard Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart, as has been previously reported. However, as The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer reported, the two sides could not come to an agreement as Miami “could not reach an organizational consensus on whether such a trade was a clear upgrade.” Smart was ultimately bought out and ended up with the Lakers.
Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald confirms that the two sides did indeed engage with one another on such a trade, and that it made sense on paper given Smart’s expiring salary ($21.6MM) is cheaper than Rozier’s ($26.6). However, Chiang clarifies that the primary reason such a trade did not occur was primarily due to the fact that Miami didn’t want to attach the necessary draft capital it would have taken to complete such a deal.
The Heat remain open to trade talks surrounding Rozier, but they have been hesitant to include draft picks or sacrifice future flexibility simply to get off his expiring deal.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- A federal investigation was launched early last year regarding game-worn Heat gear that was stolen from the facilities, Chiang writes in another post. The gear includes that from the likes of Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James.
- Look for Mason Plumlee to start at center for the Hornets in a year where his competition looks to be rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner and former two-way big Moussa Diabate, Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer writes. Plumlee started for the Hornets during Mark Williams‘ rookie season, before he was traded to the Clippers. Boone could see a similar situation play out, where Plumlee starts as the man in the middle before Kalkbrenner ultimately takes over.
- The Wizards will keep their 2026 draft selection if it ends up in the first eight picks of the draft. The Knicks will own the pick if it falls outside of that range, but as Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes, the Wizards won’t trade for that selection in its entirety given that they own a swap with Phoenix in that same year. The subscriber story details the pick protections in its entirety.