Terry Rozier, Heat Taking Part in 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the NBA's 2023-24 regular season now in the books, the 2024 iteration of the NBA Playoffs are about to begin. But first, we have the NBA Play-In Tournament to determine the final two seeds of each conference.

While this year's NBA Playoffs already has a couple former Cardinals set to compete for the Larry O'Bannon Trophy, the NBA Play-In Tournament has one more that is trying to crash the party. This year, point guard Terry Rozier will be helping the Miami Heat try and clinch one of the final spots for the postseason.

Former Louisville players Donovan Mitchell and Damion Lee already punched tickets to the NBA Playoffs with their respective teams, which begins later this week.

As for the NBA Play-In Tournament, that kicks off on Tuesday, but Rozier and the eighth-seeded Heat won't see action until Wednesday, Apr. 12. They'll be taking on the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, with tip-off coming at 7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

The winner of this showdown will officially clinch their spot in the NBA Playoffs as the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed. They would open their up their postseason run against the second-seeded New York Knicks.

The loser will go on to face the winner of the matchup between the No. 9 Chicago Bulls and the No. 10 Atlanta Hawks on Friday, Apr. 19. Whoever wins then will officially clinch the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, and will open up the NBA Playoffs against the top-seeded Boston Celtics.

Rozier started the 2023-24 season with the Charlotte Hornets, but was traded to the Miami Heat back in January. Since being dealt to South Beach, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound shooting guard has averaged 16.4 points, 4.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 31 games and 30 starts, while shooting 42.3 percent from the field. He was averaging 23.2 points, 6.6 assists and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 45.9 percent when he was traded.

After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Boston Celtics, Rozier signed a three-year, $58 million contract with Charlotte as a free agent prior to the 2019-20 season. He then later inked a four-year, $97 million max prior to the start of the 2021-22 season, and the fully guaranteed deal lasts through the 2025-26 season.

Ever since arriving in Charlotte, Rozier's game has taken a tremendous step forward. He averaged 7.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 272 games across four years in Boston, but over his 4.5 seasons with the Hornets, he averaged 20.0, 4.3 and 4.7 in each respective category over 298 games.

Rozier was drafted by the Celtics with the 16th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, following a two year career at Louisville. In his sophomore season with the Cardinals, he averaged 17.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, and was named a member of the All-ACC Second Team.

(Photo of Terry Rozier: Sam Navarro - USA TODAY Sports)

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