Miami Heat's bold trade deadline move from last year has left team with much regret

As the Miami Heat continues to spiral into mediocrity, it seems as if they greatly regret the trade for Terry Rozier.

At 9-9, the Miami Heat may be the perfect definition of a team stuck in no man's land in the Eastern Conference. They have a veteran-laden roster that appears to be past its prime. Their championship window is closed and it seems as if the front office is the last entity to realize that. Making a roster-altering move at the trade deadline seems like a natural next step for the team. Of course, there's only one problem with that - the Heat doesn't have much wiggle room, at least in part because of a possible mistake the team made at last year's deadline.

According to a recent report, the Heat may already be exploring the possibility of trading Terry Rozier. With a partially guaranteed contract for next season, Rozier may be the best trade asset on the roster heading into the NBA Trade Deadline season - especially if the team isn't willing to trade Jimmy (which doesn't appear to be the case at the moment). And even if the Heat wanted to trade him, there may not be a strong market for a declining star who will be looking for a huge free-agency contract during the offseason.

The Miami Heat's big regret with Terry Rozier

Either way, at this point, you'd have to think that there is a great deal of regret from the team in trading for Rozier. The Heat traded a future first-round picks and Kyle Lowry's expiring contract for Rozier leading up to last year's trade deadline. It was a move that was supposed to help push the Heat forward amongst the rest of the East contends. That hasn't happened. And, in fact, over the past few games, Rozier has been moved to a bench role.

It remains to be seen if this is a long-term move or another experiment from head coach Erik Spoelstra to try and spark the team. But Rozier hasn't been the huge upgrade that perhaps the Heat believed he'd be. With one less first-round pick at their disposal, you can't help but wonder if Miami wished they had that move back.

Even if the Heat wanted to make a trade at the deadline to upgrade their roster, they have limited assets in part because of the deal for Rozier. Now that it's clear he isn't a fit for the team in the backcourt, the Heat has to be kicking themselves as it could end up limiting what this team can or can't do via trade not only at the deadline but also during the offseason.