Miami Heat, Haywood Highsmith bracing for NBA free agency
MIAMI – In less than a month, the NBA’s reset will be in full swing, with free agency opening June 30.
For the Miami Heat, a team lacking a potential big name who could get away in the process or the salary-cap wherewithal to spend on something big, free agency figures to be a reserved affair.
But the lesson from a year ago is that sometimes the small stuff also is worth sweating.
An argument certainly could have been made this past season that one of the key swing dates on the 2023-24 personnel calendar was June 30. That’s when Gabe Vincent and Max Strus got away.
Now there is the curious case of Haywood Highsmith. No, perhaps not a game changer in the big picture, but the type of ancillary element in free agency that could be a swing vote in the Heat offseason.
After earning $1.9 million this past season, Highsmith is in line for a raise. The question for the league is how much of a raise, with the Heat having clearly drawn a line last June when it came to losing Vincent to the Los Angeles Lakers and Strus to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Highsmith has made it clear he would like to stay. But after nothing but minimum salaries, there also are other considerations.
“I can’t make my decision based off of what I like and don’t like. I have to make the decision that’s best for me,” Highsmith said in a private moment to the Sun Sentinel during the playoffs. “Gabe and Max loved it here; I love it here, too. They didn’t end up staying here, so I don’t know what’s to come for me.
“Nothing’s on the table, so we’ll see. Obviously, I would love to stay in Miami. That’s where my daughter’s at, that’s where my family is at, so I would love to be here, too.”
For the Heat, there also is that element in play, with Highsmith living in Miami-Dade with his daughter Hazel and the mother of his daughter.
“When that time comes to figure out where I’ll be playing next season, I’ll go through it slowly and just pray about it,” the affable, soft-spoken 27-year-old said. “Like I’ve said, I definitely want to stay in Miami. I love being here. My family lives here. My daughter lives here. So that’s a big priority for me, just to be around my daughter a lot.
“But I just got to figure it out and just take my time and understand that it’s going to work itself out and everything happens for a reason.”
With Caleb Martin likely to price himself beyond the Heat’s means in free agency, Highsmith stands as the more affordable option when it comes to retaining a defensive wing. While he does not enter free agency as a starter, as Vincent and Strus did, he enters with value to a team built on defense.
“Being here now for a couple of years now,” Highsmith said, “I definitely would say that it feels like family here. It definitely feels like family. It’s all about winning, figuring out ways to win a championship, figuring out ways to compete for a championship. They’re not about tanking or load management, none of that stuff. They’re all about winning and I respect that as a competitor myself.”
It already has been quite the ride, from Division II Wheeling University to the G League Delaware Blue Coats to a consistent playoff role for the Heat.
“It has been a long journey to get here,” he said. “If you know anything about my story, you know I went to a smaller school, burst onto the scene with the NBA G League team with the Sixers, played overseas, came back and found my way to this organization.
“They gave me an opportunity. I’ve been here for about three years, two and a half, three years. So just very grateful for this organization for bringing me in, just putting me through that developmental system. It shows that they really helped me as far as my game, getting better, putting me in the right situations.”
