MARCH 8: Highsmith’s signing is official, the Heat announced in a press release. The team used part of its mid-level exception for the minimum-salary contract, and the second and third seasons are non-guaranteed, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
MARCH 7: Haywood Highsmith‘s third 10-day contract with the Heat will expire on Monday night, but the team doesn’t intend to let the forward get away. Highsmith and Miami have agreed to a three-year deal, agent Jerry Dianis tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Highsmith, 25, has signed a pair of standard 10-day pacts with the Heat after initially receiving a 10-day hardship contract. He has appeared in nine games for the club, averaging 2.7 PPG and 1.6 RPG in 10.0 MPG.
While Highsmith’s numbers in a small sample size at the NBA level are underwhelming, he played well in the G League earlier this season, averaging 13.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.4 APG on .494/.393/.625 shooting in 17 games (29.8 MPG) for the Delaware Blue Coats, Philadelphia’s NBAGL affiliate.
The Heat will use a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Highsmith to a deal that covers three seasons — the rest of 2021/22, plus two more years. According to Wojnarowski, the contract will include “team options,” which suggests that it’s not guaranteed beyond this season.
Miami has an impressive track record when it comes to signing developmental players to low-risk multiyear deals near the end of a season. During the last week of the 2018/19 campaign, the club signed Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson to three-year contracts that became two of the most team-friendly deals in the league when Nunn and Robinson emerged as reliable rotation players.
Once they officially finalize their agreement with Highsmith, the Heat will have a full 15-man roster.
I don’t know much about Highsmith, except that he has an All-Star-level basketball name.
Good luck, Haywood Highsmith.
Good thing his last name isn’t Jahblomi
Idk usually it’s better to just be direct
Good for him… but if they were gonna go “project” I would have preferred it be Micah Potter.. a stretch 4 with a ton of upside.. they must not think his ceiling is high.
Potter will likely at least be in summer league/training camp with them, or at least I would have to assume. He might be a good option for that spot Kyle Guy is in right now, especially as they’ve lost others, such as DJ Stewart recently. I personally lean towards a versatile young wing, when its available for 1 of the spots, or something that fits best. So using 1 of the main 15 spots on highsmith is at least intriguing to me, just for that reason
Heat lost out on a lot of their young guys this year, so it’s nice to see them get something determined with that last spot. Still wonder if theyd consider replacing Morris as well. Highsmith was definitely 1 of a few people on my list of possibilities for the rest of the season. Still more that needs to be seen in my opinion, but the Heat were comfortable enough with what they’ve seen, I guess…
Played really well when they had him during the covid situation, and was 1 of 5 or so options, of current free agents, I was thinking about for that last spot. I think he can be a useful at the 4, even though he might be more of a wing. Probably a 3/4 more than a 4/3, but I think he should fot. His net rating with us was pretty crazy earlier in the season, obviously in the short sample size
With the previously mentioned loss of young guys, I wonder how safe Kyle Guys 2 way spot is, even though he was really, really good for them earlier on
He seems to have good overall IQ and seems to hit that corner three – HH basically took over KZ’s spot.
Gotta trust Miami pipeline
Of white golds