Transactions usually have a way of providing clarity about an NBA team’s direction. By trading Haywood Highsmith and signing Dru Smith, the Miami Heat are doing the exact opposite. Only two things feel certain in the aftermath: They were never going to pay the luxury tax, and making another trade is either likely or inevitable.
This could end up being a dramatization of two mid-August moves. Highsmith is recovering from knee surgery, and for as much Miami loves it some Dru Smith, he’s not returning to play a ton of minutes, or run the offense.
The timing and process here is nevertheless suspect—so much so it should mean the Heat aren’t done.
These are not moves the Heat needed to make
The Highsmith trade is being spun as Miami’s way of skirting the luxury tax. That’s partially true. Offloading his salary does get the Heat beneath the tax, but they didn’t need to slide beneath that threshold now.
Teams have until the end of the league’s calendar year to cut payroll. And while slashing costs midseason or around the draft can be difficult, Miami wasn’t even $2 million into that tax. That’s chump change—money it would’ve had zero issue shedding around the trade deadline, or next June.
This decision looks even weirder (and, frankly, worse) knowing the Heat forked over a 2032 second-rounder to convince the Brooklyn Nets to take on a quintessential three-and-D contributor making under $6 million. (Related: If it took this much to grease the wheels of a Highsmith dump, just imagine what it’d take to trade Terry Rozier right now.) Unless Miami isn’t confident he’ll get healthy at some point this season, it likely could have gotten back a second-rounder for his services.
The weirdness factor only increases after the Smith signing. He has now needed to work his way back from a torn ACL and Achilles. If the Heat were worried about Highsmith’s health, Smith’s own checkered bill can’t put them at ease.
Plus, Miami could have simply signed Smith and kept Highsmith. It would have inflated their tax bill, but again, it has all season to remedy that. Keeping both would have left them within $5 million of the luxury line.
Miami seems destined to make a trade
After all of this, the Heat still could use another bonafide playmaker, and big-man help behind Bam Adebayo. They have potential solutions in both arenas. All of them—from Pelle Larsson and Kasparas Jakučionis to Kel’el Ware and Nikola Jovic—are unproven.
To that end, burning another roster spot on a guard (Smith) when Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, and Davion Mitchell are also in tow could portend another trade. Maybe the Heat are about to lop off Rozier’s salary for frontcourt help. More drastically, and less likely, perhaps having so many guards and adding Powell emboldens them to shop Tyler Herro ahead of his lucrative extension eligibility.
Regardless of how you interpret Miami’s latest moves, the overarching point stands: This roster, while teeming with depth, remains unfinished. If the Heat are serious about competing in the East, their offseason isn’t over. It can’t be.