Haywood Highsmith is another Heat development success story.
In each of the three years he has been in Miami, the 6'7" forward’s role has grown, and that will continue this year when he is expected to back up Nikola Jovic at the four. That’s why the team has locked him up with a two-year, $11 million contract, a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
That salary is just above the taxpayer midlevel exception, which seems a fair number for Highsmith. Last season he averaged 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in about 20 minutes a night, he is a quality defender and shot 39.6% from 3 on almost three attempts a night.
Highsmith said after the season that he wanted to return to Miami, but this is a business, and he had to take the best offer.
The Heat roster is pretty much locked in now with 14 players under contract. A trade could come in training camp or closer to next February’s deadline, but for now the Heat are locked in and essentially running it back with Jimmy Butler (in the last year of his contract) and an extended Bam Adebayo.
