Charlotte Hornets open trade season, agree to send Terry Rozier to Miami Heat

When Mitch Kupchak dialed up Terry Rozier on Tuesday morning to officially deliver the news, he knew the conversation wouldn’t be easy.

“It was a bittersweet phone call, I’ll be honest,” said Kupchak, the Charlotte Hornets president of basketball operations/general manager. “He thanked us for bringing him to Charlotte, and indicated that he grew up on the court and off the court. He feels he became more professional and a better person. We all know how involved he was in the community. And, of course, on the court in particular this year he had his best ever.”

But Rozier’s time with the Hornets is up.

In the first salvo of what could be an active two-week stretch for the organization, the Hornets traded Rozier to the Miami Heat for Kyle Lowry and a 2027 first-round draft pick. The pick is top-14 protected and if it doesn’t convey to an actual selection in 2027, it converts into an unprotected pick in 2028.

Rozier has two years and more than $50 million left on the extension he inked in 2021. He hasn’t been a part of a winning team since coming to Charlotte in the sign-and-trade deal for Kemba Walker in 2019, and that will change with the Heat. Rozier lives in Miami during the offseason, so the move to South Florida is one he welcomes with open arms.

Lowry, 37, is earning $29.6 million in the final year of his deal. He fell out of favor recently with the Heat and was demoted out of the starting lineup, leading to his exit out of town.

“Terry had a couple of years remaining on his contract and Kyle Lowry is an expiring contract, so that money will be freed up,” Kupchak said. “It’s always good to be flexible financially. It will help us this summer and of course it will help us in the next couple of weeks to plan for this summer and beyond, just to know what our numbers are going to look like.

“And the pick itself has potential for incredible upside. We don’t know who that player may be several years down the road. But an asset that valuable can also become something that you can put in a trade and make a deal. So. yeah, the financial part of it was a part of it. But getting the pick was probably the most important part.”

Lowry, from all indications, won’t be donning purple and teal and suiting up for the Hornets.

“He’s got to report, he’s got to pass a physical,” Kupchak said. “It’s going to take a couple of days. I can’t say that that’s something we look to accomplish right away. We may wait to see what happens out of respect to him and what he’s accomplished in this league. Maybe we wait to see and have the trade deadline pass, rather than have him relocate and start something that may or may not take place.

“I think that’s probably what we will do. Don’t know for sure, but that seems to make the most sense.”

If the Hornets can’t move Lowry in another trade before the Feb. 8 deadline, he could be a potential buyout candidate. Two league sources suggested the sides will eventually look to buy Lowry out of the remainder of his contract, giving the veteran opportunity to choose his next destination similar to what happened last year when Charlotte waived Reggie Jackson after acquiring him in a deal for Mason Plumlee.

With Rozier bound for Florida, it paves the way for the Hornets’ backcourt of the future — LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller — to get more playing time together. When the Hornets selected Miller with the No. 2 overall pick last June, it signaled the direction the organization was heading in and Rozier’s timeline didn’t necessarily coincide with Charlotte’s.

The Hornets also wanted to get bigger in the backcourt alongside Ball and moving Rozier, 29, allows them to potentially match up better with taller guard tandems. Miller is quietly putting together a solid rookie season, racking up 20 or more points in his past three games, and Ball looked good in his return against Minnesota on Monday following a one-game absence.

Building around that tandem and the rest of the young core is paramount to the Hornets’ vision.

“We think we’ve got a foundation of players in place,” Kupchak said. “I’m not going to mention all of our players, but I’m going to mention our two highest picks — LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. But there are other players that we’ve pegged that would be very difficult to trade.”

Having dropped 18 of their past 21 games, the Hornets (10-31) are almost a lock to add to the NBA’s longest playoff drought, which is at eight years and counting. So, there’s a really good possibility sending Rozier to Miami is just the first of a few moves, and Kupchak said they will continue to be active.

Retooling the roster is now the top priority. Just don’t label it a complete rebuild, though.

“We do have, I think, a good group,” Kupchak said. “For various reasons, most of all the injury scenario, this year we weren’t able to really see what kind of team we had or reach whatever potential we had. And we thought that we could contend for one of those lower level playoff spots. That was our hope. Never got the chance to put together a run. And that’s not to say we still don’t intend to win games. Because we do.

“So, I wouldn’t call it a rebuild. A rebuild is, in my opinion, something where you start from scratch and you convert everything you have into draft capital, and you create gobs of cap room, and you start taking in contracts to get picks and it could drag out years. That’s not the case. I think it’s more of a case of recognizing where we are this year.”