Haywood Highsmith Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: Simmons, Smart, Heat Injuries, Knicks

November 29th, 2022 at 7:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Ben Simmons will miss his sixth game this season on Wednesday due to a sore left knee. Nets point guard Kyrie Irving said Simmons’ absences impact the club in many ways, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes.

“When he’s not out there we don’t have our point forward, our point guard, being able to initiate easy opportunities, push the ball in transition; so we’ll definitely miss him in the lineup,” Irving said. “Hopefully he comes back [soon], but if he’s dealing with it we just want him to get as healthy as possible and we’ll figure it out.”

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In Joe Mazzulla, Celtics guard Marcus Smart feels he has a head coach that fully trusts him, he told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “I think once Coach put his trust in me, we’ve seen how it’s allowed me to blossom and this team to blossom,” Smart said. “So just having a coach that can believe in you and allow you to run the team like he needs you to, that means everything. And then on top of that him being a point guard, that’s just an extra bonus, because he understands the pressure that I have to go through as the point guard in making everybody else happy and sacrificing your own for the team.”
The Heat released their injury report for Wednesday’s game and there’s no less than a dozen names on the list heading into their showdown with the Celtics, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets. Jimmy Butler, Victor Oladipo and Omer Yurtseven are listed as out, while Nikola Jovic, Dewayne Dedmon, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith and Duncan Robinson received the questionable tag. Two other players are probable.
The most realistic path to improvement for the Knicks is still the trade route, Ian Begley of SNY TV opines. They’ll continue to seek out top talent and have a surplus of draft picks and some young players to offer teams. Stuck in mediocrity, the only question is whether they’ll make a big move before the trade deadline or wait until the offseason.

Heat Notes: Butler, Martin, Jovic, Lowry, Highsmith

November 25th, 2022 at 7:54pm CST by Rory Maher

Friday marks Jimmy Butler‘s fifth consecutive absence due to right knee soreness, and he’s likely out Sunday at Atlanta as well. However, the expectation is that the 33-year-old forward will return for Wednesday’s game at Boston, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (free account required).

In addition to Butler, Duncan Robinson (left ankle sprain) and Max Strus (right shoulder impingement) continue to deal with their own injuries, Winderman notes. Robinson has now missed three straight, while Friday is Strus’ second straight missed game.

Here’s more on the Heat:

After signing a three-year, $20.4MM to remain with Miami in the offseason, forward Caleb Martin continues to make progress as a player, Winderman writes for The Sun Sentinel. “Caleb has grown and changed from what he was previously, before,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I still think he’s going to have a game where he’ll be flirting with some triple-doubles, just the way he’s getting into dribble handoffs, the way he can get shooters open shots. There’s going to be one of those nights where he’s just going to fall into all of those being makes, and you’ll look up and he’s going to have eight assists with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter. I told him the big thing is can he get 10 rebounds. I know he can get the points and assists. He has a knack for the ball, so he’s going to be able to get that as well.” The 27-year-old has hit his stride over the last six games (39.5 minutes), averaging 15.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks on .515/.452/.800 shooting.
Rookie Nikola Jovic has flashed intriguing potential as an injury-replacement starter, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscriber link). The 19-year-old forward has a lot of work to do defensively, but the Heat are pleased with how he’s developing early on in 2022/23. “He has really good offensive instincts not only as a passer but as a screener, how to get into open spaces, how to execute different things and then his passing and his vision,” Spoelstra said. “As soon as he got here, that was probably his No. 1 strength — his ability to make other guys better. And he’s not afraid of the moment. So he’s comfortable out there, he’s earning the respect of everybody in the locker room and he’s earning his stripes right now.”
Miami continues to be ravaged by injuries, which is the primary reason the team has lost four of its last five games, but Kyle Lowry has been playing some of his best basketball in a Heat uniform, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Haywood Highsmith‘s defense and Martin’s all-around game have also been positives with Miami severely shorthanded, Jackson observes. The Heat are currently 8-11, the No. 12 seed in the East.

Several Players Set To Receive Salary Guarantees

October 19th, 2022 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Most players who are still on non-guaranteed contracts as the NBA’s regular season begins won’t have their salaries for 2022/23 fully guaranteed until January. The league-wide salary guarantee date is January 10, and teams must waive players on non-guaranteed contracts on or before January 7 in order to avoid being on the hook for the full-season salaries.

However, a number of players on non-guaranteed deals have language in their contracts that calls for them to receive full or partial guarantees if they’re not waived before their team’s first game of the regular season. Those players are as follows:

Full guarantees:

Dalano Banton (Raptors): Partial guarantee ($300,000) increases to full guarantee ($1,563,518).
Keita Bates-Diop (Spurs): Non-guaranteed salary ($1,878,720) becomes fully guaranteed.
Justin Champagnie (Raptors): Partial guarantee ($325,000) increases to full guarantee ($1,637,966).
Tre Jones (Spurs): Partial guarantee ($500,000) increases to full guarantee ($1,782,621).

As our full list of early salary guarantee dates shows, Isaiah Joe (Sixers), Josh Jackson (Raptors), and D.J. Wilson (Raptors) also would’ve had their salaries become fully guaranteed if they had remained under contract through their teams’ first regular season games. However, they were all waived within the last week. Joe has since signed with the Thunder on a deal that includes a guaranteed first-year salary.

Partial guarantees:

Matthew Dellavedova (Kings): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,628,597) becomes partially guaranteed ($250,000).
Haywood Highsmith (Heat): Partial guarantee ($50,000) increases to $400,000.
Luke Kornet (Celtics): Partial guarantee ($300,000) increases to $1,066,639.
Chima Moneke (Kings): Partial guarantee ($250,000) increases to $500,000.
Markieff Morris (Nets): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,905,581) becomes partially guaranteed ($500,000).
KZ Okpala (Kings): Partial guarantee ($250,000) increases to $500,000.
Edmond Sumner (Nets): Partial guarantee ($250,000) increases to $500,000.

Guarantee dates are a matter of negotiation between a team and a player, so there’s nothing stopping a club from approaching a player and asking him to agree to push that date back. If a player feels as if he’ll be waived if he says no, he may agree.

This happened last season, for instance, when Isaac Bonga‘s and Sam Dekker‘s contracts with the Raptors called for their salaries to be fully guaranteed as of opening night. Both players assented to moving their guarantee dates back to November 6. When that new deadline arrived, Toronto opted to retain Bonga and guarantee his full salary while waiving Dekker.

In other words, it’s not yet a sure thing that all the players mentioned above will get the guarantees described here, even if they remain under contract through Wednesday (or Tuesday, in Kornet’s case). We may get word in a day or two that a couple of them agreed to postpone their salary guarantee dates.

For the most part though, we should count on this group of players receiving some added security, with a handful of names coming off our list of players who still have non-guaranteed salaries.

Heat Notes: Robinson, Highsmith, Cain, Mulder

October 10th, 2022 at 7:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Duncan Robinson is in the second year of a five-year, $90MM contract. The first year of the deal didn’t go well for the Heat swingman, as he lost his starting job late in the season and was the subject of numerous trade rumors.

Robinson is ready to hit the reset button, as shown by his 29-point outing against the Grizzlies on Friday, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.

“Just based off of how last year went — lots to learn from, lots to grow from,” he said. “So just to be very discerning over what it is I want to take with me, what I want to take from the experience and how I can actually be resourceful and use it to better myself, better the team, better myself as a player.”

Robinson has worked on improving defensively and becoming a more diverse offensive player.

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Haywood Highsmith only has a partial guarantee on his contract this season but he’s impressed coach Erik Spoelstra in the preseason, according to Nekias Duncan of Basketball News. “I don’t view him as a young player,” Spoelstra said. “I understand he doesn’t have an extensive NBA experience — but he’s played some very good basketball in the G League. He has had to grind and earn everything and every opportunity that he’s been given. He just continues to get better each year.”
Rookie forward Jamal Cain earned a two-way contract with his performances during camp and preseason games, according to Spoelstra. as Chiang relays. “Over the course of the last several weeks, we’ve been able to see his work ethic and how much he’s improved because of his approach and work ethic,” he said. “Then he had several good moments in training camp and the last two preseason games.” Miami is expected to keep a roster spot open and waive its players currently on Exhibit 10 deals — Mychal Mulder, Jamaree Bouyea, Orlando Robinson and Dru Smith — then have them join its G League team.
Mulder is in his third stint with the organization and Spoelstra compares him to former swingman Rodney McGruder due to his “perseverance and grit,” Chiang writes in another story. “You might not be the 20-year-old prospect, but you’re still a prospect in our eyes,” Spoelstra said of Mulder. “We value Mychal’s makeup. His game certainly fits. His ability to catch and shoot off the ball, but his makeup, how he carries himself, his progression, these are the kind of things that we want to go out of our way to try to help him. It might be here, it might be somewhere else.”

Heat Notes: Herro, Durant, Highsmith, Adebayo, Oladipo

July 21st, 2022 at 12:54pm CST by Rory Maher

The polarizing way in which rival teams view Tyler Herro is one reason why the Heat haven’t made much headway in trade talks for Kevin Durant or Donovan Mitchell, sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Insider link), who says Miami is still determined to make something happen and “can never be counted out.” If Herro signs a lucrative rookie scale extension, that might make it more difficult for the Heat to deal him in part because of poison pill provision rules, Lowe notes.

According to Lowe, some league executives and coaches view Herro as a potential All-Star, but some view him more like Jamal Crawford or Lou Williams, an instant-offense bench scorer whose defensive limitations make it difficult to keep him on the court in the playoffs. Lowe observes that the Heat are unable to match rival teams’ trade packages centered on first-round picks, so if they are able to land one of the stars on the trade market, part of the reason will be due to an opposing team being “higher on Herro than consensus.”

The Heat including Bam Adebayo in a deal for Durant would hamstring the Heat’s defense and could have disastrous long-term consequences due to the advancing ages of Kyle Lowry (36), Durant (34 in September), and Jimmy Butler (33 in September), Lowe writes. Sending Ben Simmons to Miami along with Durant would help solve that problem, but Lowe says the Nets are “wary of selling low” on the three-time All-Star, whose value has cratered after missing all of last season for various reasons.

Lowe takes an in-depth look at Herro’s strengths and weaknesses, ultimately suggesting that the 22-year-old might be able to develop into a player like CJ McCollum, a very good offensive player with below-average defense.

Here’s more on the Heat:

Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link) provides an update of where things stand with Miami’s pursuit of Durant. According to Jackson, Brooklyn isn’t interested in Herro as a headliner, so Durant heading to the Heat will likely hinge upon the star insisting on only being dealt to Miami, which obviously hasn’t happened to this point.
Haywood Highsmith is vying for an increased role in 2022/23 and will aim to emulate the departed P.J. Tucker, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I think me and P.J. have similar styles on defense,” Highsmith said to the Herald. “We like to guard the ball, be physical and play hard and just play to win. On the offensive end, he’s a good three-point shooter in the corner, and I think I’m a good three-point shooter in the corner. I think I can do the stuff that he does on the dribble handoffs and the short roll, get into the pocket and making plays, shooting the floaters. I think just on both ends of the floor, I think we have a lot of similarities.” Highsmith’s salary is only guaranteed for $50K next season, so he’ll have to earn both his minutes and his contract by sticking with the team into January, when non-guaranteed and partially guaranteed deals become fully guaranteed.
Adebayo and Victor Oladipo are unfazed by the perception that the Heat have taken a step backward this summer after losing Tucker to the Sixers and not signing any outside free agents, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “They’re always counting us out,” Adebayo said. “We The Kennel for a reason, the underdog. That’s our chip. You can believe what you want, you can say what you want.” Oladipo re-signed with Miami on a two-year, $18.2MM deal that includes a second year player option.

Heat Notes: Days, Jovic, Highsmith, Allman

July 17th, 2022 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

After spending most of Summer League with the Spurs, Darius Days was surprised to get a two-way contract from the Heat, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Days, who averaged 13.7 points and 10.0 rebounds in three games in Las Vegas, said he didn’t work out with Miami prior to the draft.

“It definitely caught me by surprise,” he said. “It was an exciting feeling. They gave me the call and I was excited. I was just trying to play my way into something this past week.”

An undersized big man at 6’7″, Days compares himself to P.J. Tucker, who just left the Heat to sign with the Sixers. Days, who said he’s versatile enough to play anywhere in the front court, has studied Tucker’s game to understand what makes him effective.

“He can rebound the ball, he can guard bigger guys,” Days said. “He definitely switches and plays great defense. He talks on defense. He just does the little things. I mean, he’s a champion for a reason. So I like to model my game after the little things that he does.”

There’s more on the Heat:

First-round pick Nikola Jovic saw limited playing time in Las Vegas because of a quad contusion, but he appears to be a long-term project rather than someone who will help right away, Chiang states in the same story. Jovic, who recently turned 19, had one great shooting game in the California Classic, but struggled with his shot in the other three Summer League games that he played.
Haywood Highsmith showed promise throughout Summer League and could be a part of the Heat’s rotation next season, Chiang adds. Highsmith only has a $50K guarantee on his contract for now, but his versatility on defense may make him valuable enough to keep on the roster.
Kyle Allman Jr. finished off the Heat’s Summer League schedule with a 26-point outing Saturday night as Miami rallied past the Clippers, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The 24-year-old guard was the team’s best offensive player this summer, Winderman adds, but he already has a contract in France and may earn more money by returning to Paris Basketball.

Heat Notes: Durant, Highsmith, Jovic, Summer League

July 2nd, 2022 at 9:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat could try to improve their bargaining power in a potential Kevin Durant trade by negotiating with the Thunder to remove protections on the 2025 first-round pick owed to OKC, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

If Oklahoma City agrees to accept the pick with no lottery protection, Miami will be free to offer Brooklyn first-rounders in 2023, 2027 and 2029 without violating the Stepien rule. Teams aren’t permitted to trade draft picks that are more than seven years away, but the Heat could also include pick swaps in 2024, 2026 and 2028.

Chiang says the Heat are in a “holding pattern” as they wait for the next step in the Durant drama. They haven’t made any moves since reaching agreements to re-sign Dewayne Dedmon and Victor Oladipo shortly after free agency began Thursday afternoon.

The Nets can’t acquire Bam Adebayo as long as Ben Simmons is on the roster and the Heat would prefer to keep Jimmy Butler, so any trade offer would have to be built around Tyler Herro. Chiang notes that Herro, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry are sufficient to match salary, while inexpensive players such as Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Omer Yurtseven could be added to sweeten the offer. It’s unlikely that would be enough to interest the Nets, who reportedly have received interest in Durant from more than half the league.

League rules prevent Miami from trading Dedmon or Oladipo until December 15, while first-round pick Nikola Jovic, who signed his rookie contract today, can’t be included in a trade for 30 days.

There’s more from Miami:

Haywood Highsmith received a $50K guarantee on his 2022/23 salary by remaining on the roster past Friday’s deadline, Chiang adds. The second-year small forward joined the Heat in late December on the first of three 10-day contracts, then was given a standard deal in March.
Highsmith has an opportunity for a larger role next season after P.J. Tucker‘s departure to Philadelphia, Chiang notes in a separate story. Highsmith, who scored 11 points in today’s Summer League opener, is working to model himself after Tucker as a three-and-D player.
Jovic is still adjusting to the speed of the NBA game and that was evident in today’s debut, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. He made just 1 of 6 shots and grabbed three rebounds in 21 minutes of action. “I know he wanted to play better,” said Summer League coach Malik Allen. “I just think it was moving really fast. I told him just to keep his head up. He was frustrated. That learning curve is going to continue to be there for him.”

Southeast Notes: Magic, Hornets, “Shadow Heat,” Bam

May 29th, 2022 at 3:11pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Magic, owners of the top pick as well as the Nos. 32 and 35 selections in the 2022 draft, interviewed a variety of players at the pre-draft combine, have hosted several prospects for pre-draft workouts, and are expected to host several others as they do their due diligence with an eye towards the future.

Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel lists all the players the Magic are doing their homework on, including Duke guard Trevor Keels, Iowa forward Keegan Murray, Baylor forward Jeremy Sochan, Kentucky guard TyTy Washington Jr., and more.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

The Hornets, who possess the Nos. 13 and 15 picks in the upcoming draft, are hosting UT-Arlington forward Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, Gonzaga guard Rasir Bolton, LSU forward Tari Eason, North Carolina State guard Terquavion Smith, SMU forward Marcus Weathers, and Connecticut forward Isaiah Whaley for a pre-draft workout today, per Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
The Heat‘s young deep-bench players, a.k.a. the “Shadow Heat,” are gearing up for a summer of development, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Winderman notes that the Miami front office brain trust of Pat Riley, Andy Elisburg, and Adam Simon have made it a habit to add intriguing youngsters near the end of the regular season, letting them work out with the team during the end of the year and the postseason ahead of hopeful Summer League success. The Heat have hit on solid role players this way in the past, and hope to do so again with Haywood Highsmith and two-way players Mychal Mulder and Javonte Smart. That trio has been traveling with the club as it continues its playoff run. “I think that gives you invaluable experience, any time you can be a part of a playoff run,” said Heat reserve center Omer Yurtseven, who underwent a similar late-season development process last year.
Though Heat All-Defensive Team center Bam Adebayo has had a relatively modest offensive output in the team’s Eastern Conference Finals series against the Celtics thus far, the team assesses his production beyond just the box score, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Adebayo is averaging just 13.3 PPG in the series.

Eastern Notes: Cunningham, Harden, Highsmith, Holiday

March 9th, 2022 at 8:45am CST by Luke Adams

Pistons head coach Dwane Casey doesn’t have a vote for Rookie of the Year, but if he did, he thinks it would be an easy choice to select Cade Cunningham.

“He’s Rookie of the Year,” Casey said of his point guard on Monday (Twitter link via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press). “It’s not even close as far as talent evaluation. I’ve seen a lot of players. The only thing they can hold against us is record.”

Casey is, of course, a little biased, but Cunningham has certainly played his way into the Rookie of the Year conversation after an up-and-down start to the season, leading all rookies with 16.5 points per game. Still, as Rod Beard of The Detroit News relays (via Twitter), winning that award isn’t the No. 1 pick’s primary goal.

“I’m not really too worried about that race, as much as getting the building blocks and getting a foundation right for next year for the Pistons,” Cunningham said. “I’m going to keep working, and I think I deserve the award, but at the end of the day, it’s a trophy. I think building something good with my team would mean a lot more.”

Here’s more from around the East:

Ben Simmons‘ return to Philadelphia has been the focus of Thursday’s Sixers/Nets matchup, but it’ll also be the first time James Harden plays his old team since asking to be traded. As Nick Friedell of ESPN writes, Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving say they aren’t holding any grudges against their former teammate for the way things played out. “When you look at it from his perspective,” Durant said. “And you look up and Ky’s not playing and then I’m injured, he hasn’t won a championship before, so he’s looking at — he’s 32 years old, I guess, he’s looking at himself, wanting to make a decision to get on a team that can kind of get into that contending, being one of the last teams standing. … You can’t really control how somebody feels when they’re thinking like that. Hopefully he stays healthy and their team stays healthy, we stay healthy, we have a great year, they have a great year, and we just move on from this.”
Haywood Highsmith‘s new three-year, minimum-salary deal with the Heat includes a series of three trigger dates for 2022/23, starting with a $50K partial guarantee if he’s on the roster through July 1, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. That partial guarantee would increase to $400K if Highsmith is on Miami’s opening-night roster and to $700K if he’s still under contract through December 1, Hoops Rumors has learned.
After trying to “blend in” during his first year in Milwaukee in 2020/21, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday has gotten more comfortable and taken on more of a leadership role this season, says Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The more the more we hear his voice, the better,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said of Holiday.

Heat Sign Haywood Highsmith To Three-Year Deal

March 8th, 2022 at 12:26pm CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 8: Highsmith’s signing is official, the Heat announced in a press release. The team used part of its mid-level exception for the minimum-salary contract, and the second and third seasons are non-guaranteed, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

MARCH 7: Haywood Highsmith‘s third 10-day contract with the Heat will expire on Monday night, but the team doesn’t intend to let the forward get away. Highsmith and Miami have agreed to a three-year deal, agent Jerry Dianis tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Highsmith, 25, has signed a pair of standard 10-day pacts with the Heat after initially receiving a 10-day hardship contract. He has appeared in nine games for the club, averaging 2.7 PPG and 1.6 RPG in 10.0 MPG.

While Highsmith’s numbers in a small sample size at the NBA level are underwhelming, he played well in the G League earlier this season, averaging 13.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.4 APG on .494/.393/.625 shooting in 17 games (29.8 MPG) for the Delaware Blue Coats, Philadelphia’s NBAGL affiliate.

The Heat will use a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Highsmith to a deal that covers three seasons — the rest of 2021/22, plus two more years. According to Wojnarowski, the contract will include “team options,” which suggests that it’s not guaranteed beyond this season.

Miami has an impressive track record when it comes to signing developmental players to low-risk multiyear deals near the end of a season. During the last week of the 2018/19 campaign, the club signed Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson to three-year contracts that became two of the most team-friendly deals in the league when Nunn and Robinson emerged as reliable rotation players.

Once they officially finalize their agreement with Highsmith, the Heat will have a full 15-man roster.