Report: NBA never ‘cleared’ Terry Rozier yet still didn’t warn Heat before trade

While the NBA’s investigation into guard Terry Rozier didn’t produce any evidence that he violated league rules, that doesn’t mean the investigation ever ceased.

Despite some past indications, one NBA source told insider Pablo Torre that the league’s investigation was “never closed” on Rozier, meaning he was never officially “cleared of anything.”

The Heat weren’t given a heads-up about the situation before they traded for the guard in the middle of the 2023-24 campaign.

The Heat gave up a pretty penny at the time for Rozier, who was averaging a whopping 23.2 points per game with the Charlotte Hornets that season before he got moved. Miami gave up guard Kyle Lowry as well as a first-round draft pick in 2027.

The pick is lottery protected for 2027 but becomes unprotected in 2028 if it doesn’t convey, so that could turn out to be quite the valuable draft choice.

Of course, that trade has aged very poorly for the Heat in more ways than one, and the legal trouble Rozier now finds himself in is just the icing on the cake. He’s staring at charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and he has been placed on leave without pay.

It certainly seems within the realm of possibility that his time with the Heat organization has already run its course, with his overall future in the NBA also unclear at this time.

However, even before Rozier got caught up in legal hot water, his Heat stint up to that point was a major letdown. While he put together flashes where he looked like the player who was a threat to score 20 points on a nightly basis in Charlotte, his time on the court for Miami was plagued by injury, inconsistency and poor efficiency.

Some Heat fans have been clamoring that the team deserves its first-round draft pick back following the news that the NBA was investigating Rozier before the trade. They have a valid argument, and folks can keep their fingers crossed that the league will seriously consider revisiting that deal from almost two years ago.