The Miami Heat’s decision to ship a 2032 second-round pick and Haywood Highsmith off to the Brooklyn Nets is aging like milk on the surface of the sun.
This is to say: It’s aging quite poorly.
Make no mistake, the move was questionable, as well as confusing, in real-time. It looks even worse following a report from Jake Fischer of The Stein Line that “Brooklyn's phone certainly figures to ring with interest in Highsmith” down the line.
This yet again raises a simple yet salient question: Why did Miami not just trade him, but treat him like a negative asset?
The Heat did not need to trade Haywood Highsmith
Jettisoning Highsmith without taking back any money allowed the Heat to duck the tax, and bring back Dru Smith on a new deal. Even if that was always the endgame, it still doesn’t explain why they needed to include a 2032 second-round pick.
Yes, Highsmith is recovering from surgery to repair a tear in his right meniscus. But the Nets aren’t trying to win anyway. They could have taken him, waited out his recovery, and looked to flip him for more value later, as it sounds like they’re planning to do.
Brooklyn could have balked without getting a sweetener. It would have been assuming some risk in the event that Highsmith’s value cratered. But if that was a deal-breaker, then, well, the Heat should have let it fall apart.
Miami didn’t need to get rid of him to sign Smith. And it didn’t need to duck the tax now. Teams have until the end of the league year to shave their tax bill, and the Heat were close enough to avoiding it that shedding enough money would not have been a problem.
These moves on the margins matter
Feel free to take the “It’s a second-round kick, so what?” stance if you’re so inclined. These decisions matter—especially for the Heat, who no longer have any second-round picks to trade.
Waiting would have cost them nothing. Worst-case scenario, they make this exact same trade with the Nets or another squad with an exception closer to the February 5 deadline. At least then they’d have exhausted all of their options.
Best-case scenario, the Heat just punted on a golden opportunity. Highsmith could have returned from injury, built off his career year, and helped them win games or gotten them assets in a midseason trade. This also would have given Miami more time to see if it could cut salary as part of a (reasonable) Terry Rozier buyout or trade.
Perhaps it turns out the Nets don’t reboot Highsmith’s value enough to get an asset for him at the deadline. Until we know that for sure, though, his exit is one the Heat appear to have grossly, and baffingly, mishandled.