The Miami Heat have made a trade, and in a pure salary dump, they have sent Haywood Highsmith and a second-round pick in 2032 to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.
That's it, that's the trade.
But while Heat fans are left scratching their heads over the trade, those paying attention would have known the seeds were planted from a different trade last month.
Norman Powell's arrival forced Haywood Highsmith to leave
The Heat acquired Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers last month in a three-team trade. Powell is coming off a career-high 21.8 points per game while shooting an astounding 41% from three.
How Powell and Tyler Herro are going to pair up is a different conversation, but the reality is that Powell comes to town with a $20 million cap hit on a Miami squad that was approaching $200 million in salary cap for 2025-26.
The $5.6 million that Highsmith is slated to make is a drop in the bucket in clawing back some of that cap space, and there is still the albatross of Terry Rozier's contract the Heat needs to get out from under, but the reality is that Miami had to take a hard look at the roster and save money where it could.
After originally debuting in the NBA with the 76ers in 2019, Highsmith worked his way up with the Heat and kept getting more and more minutes as a rotational forward.
This past season, he had a career high 24.6 minutes per game and a career high 6.5 points per game.
He could knock down a three as needed, but his most important role on the squad was just being a capable defender who could hold the fort down while in the game.
In addition to his career high in minutes and points, Highsmith also had a career high for +/- in 2024-25 at 0.8 per game, which eclipsed his previous best +/- of 0.1.
But business is business, and Miami's hand was forced once it acquired Powell.