The Miami Heat traded Haywood Highsmith to the Brooklyn Nets last week. (Mike Stewart/AP Photo)
Last week, the Miami Heat ducked under the luxury tax by trading Haywood Highsmith and a 2032 second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for a heavily protected 2026 second-round pick.
The move was quite confounding. The Nets’ 2026 second was top-55 protected, so if the Nets were one of the league’s five-best teams, the Heat would be acquiring that second. The Nets aren’t good, so that’s not happening.
The timing of it made it especially curious.
He was moved eight days after undergoing meniscus surgery that was going to potentially sideline him at the start of the regular season. But according to Five Reasons Sports’ insider Ethan Skolnick, the Heat have been trying to trade Highsmith before acquiring Norman Powell.
“The Haywood Highsmith trade from the Miami Heat to the Brooklyn Nets did not come together quickly,” Skolnick wrote Monday. “(The Miami Heat) wanted to create opportunities for younger players, with Highsmith not figuring into the regular rotation. So they looked for a deal for a while, and were open to moving him as part of the package for Norman Powell.
“After acquiring Powell, the Heat still looked to move Highsmith. According to Five on the Floor sources, no team was offering a draft pick to the Heat. The Heat engaged with the Nets, who wanted a second-round selection to take Highsmith into their cap space; they are the only team in the NBA with enough to do so and not flinch.
“Highsmith hurt his knee in an offseason workout, meaning he likely won’t be ready for training camp. That eliminated the chance for interest from a team other the Nets, since the Nets aren’t really concerned about winning this season. And then the Nets came back to the Heat and said they had other plans if the Heat didn’t take a deal now.”
Highsmith appeared in 74 games last season, averaging a career-high 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He shot 45.2 percent from the floor, 38.2 percent from 3-point range and 72.1 percent from the free-throw line.
He did regress a considerable amount defensively; he was unquestionably below-average relative to expectation — being an average defender, at best. They ended the season with an abundance of wings. So it makes sense why they wanted to move Highsmith’s $5.6 million expiring.
However, it remains peculiar as to why the Heat had to get off of him now; they didn’t. Why look desperate when you didn’t need to be?! If the Nets were in a “now or never” situation, they should’ve let bygones be bygones, not succumbed to the pressure when you had six months to make a trade (for Highsmith or another player) to get below the tax.
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