The Miami Heat will be without guard Terry Rozier for Wednesday’s play-in game against the Philadelphia 76ers because of a neck injury, the team announced on Tuesday.
The Heat acquired Rozier in January in a trade that sent Kyle Lowry and a 2027 first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets. At the very least, he looked like an offensive upgrade over Lowry without ceding too much on defense.
He’s appeared in 31 games for the Heat and averaged 16.4 points and 4.6 assists while shooting 37.1 percent from deep.
Trading Lowry was an understandable decision, but the Heat lost some continuity considering he averaged 30-plus minutes per game in the regular season and then 27.1 minutes in the playoffs over the previous two seasons.
The timing of Rozier’s arrival provided ample opportunity for him to build a strong rapport with his new teammates on the floor, but now that process will be disrupted a bit heading into the postseason.
If Miami loses without him, it will be forced to play the winner of the game between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks. It will need to win that one to clinch the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed.
The winner of Wednesday’s game between the Heat and 76ers will be the No. 7 seed.
