The Miami Heat have traded forward Haywood Highsmith and their 2032 second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for a protected 2026 second-rounder, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported on Friday.
Highsmith, 28, recently underwent meniscus surgery and was entering the final year of his contract at $5.6 million.
Charania notes in a separate tweet that the second-round pick the Heat acquired is top-55 protected. Meaning, if the pick falls between 31-55 in next year’s draft, the Nets retain the pick.
Spoiler alert: The Heat aren’t getting that pick.
This was essentially a salary dump to dip below the luxury tax; Miami entered the day roughly $1.6 million above the tax line, and are now essentially $4 million below it.
The Nets are essentially the only team with the amount of cap space to absorb Highsmith. So it makes complete sense why they would want to accomplish this deal.
The 6-foot-5 wing averaged 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds across 24.6 minutes per game last season. He shot 45.8 percent from the floor and 38.2 percent from 3-point range on a career-most 5.3 triple tries per game. He did regress defensively, but he was still a quality 3-point shooter and offensive rebounder that was impactful off the Heat bench.
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Best of luck to HH. He was a pretty decent player, a development success story, and I wish him well. For us, it means we aren’t done. Hopefully, something good will come of this.
I think he has potential he hasn’t tapped. The only thing holding him back is himself. Lack of confidence, fear of failure, lack of alpha male leadership qualities, who knows.
This means we’re not done. Some good will come out of this. But, I’m going to miss HH, as he was a decent player, helped us somewhat. I wish him continued success.
Same here. He has worked hard to get and stay in the league. No doubt another team will pick him up.
He definitely was a decent player Played clean, bold and decisive.
I’ll miss you locksmith, but this was a nice move, get rid of 2032 2nd round pick, for a protected 2nd round pick in a good draft class. The nets suck, so that pick will probably be near the 1st round, with 1st round talent possibly still on the board. Also gets under the tax line, so we’re more flexible, and can make more moves going forward. So we can sign a backup pf/c like Kai jones,holmes,bolbol,etc, and still have another spot available. Lastly without hh, that should give our younger players more minutes specifically jjj, keshad, and even jovic. so we can see if they’re worth keeping or not.
And Pelle! We need to see how heavily the pick is protected. 40? 50? We need to get more details.
Yes, you’re right, and almost forgot about pelle lol
Ugh, here’s the rest of the story. We’ll never see that pick. So, it’s just a salary dump.
the Heat in return received only a conditional 2026 second-round pick, one that is not expected to convey due to the restrictions attached. The pick from the Nets to the Heat conveys only if Brooklyn finishes with one of the five best records in the NBA this coming season.
You heard of the Miracle Mets? Maybe the Miracle Nets? 😂 😂 😂
Awww darn it smh, you right we definitely ain’t seeing that pick 😒 lol
Absolutely! This gives Miami flexibility to sign Smith, Jones or Burkes PLUS Goldin to minimum contracts, while remaining under the cap.
Note: The NBA subsidizes a portion of the veteran minimum salaries for players with three or more years of experience on one-year contracts, making the cap hit for teams equivalent to the minimum salary for a two-year veteran. This encourages teams to sign experienced players. Therefore, the salaries for Smith, Jones or Burkes would only result in a cap hit for Miami of $2,296,274. That would still leave enough cap space for Miami to sign Goldin or some other undrafted rookie to a standard NBA contract ($1,272.870).
The only downside is the second round pick. I was hoping Miami would use it to package a trade of Rozier to Chicago for Vucevic or to Sacramento for DeRozan.
I’m here for more moves and like that this opens the door for Pelle and Keshad. The tweaking to the team continues.
Well, what was that?
Making room for another move.
Hopefully not just a financial decision.