Miami Heat trade away former NBA Finals piece

The Miami Heat have officially ended their “Locksmith” era.

Miami is trading veteran forward Haywood Highsmith along with a 2032 second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick, Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Friday. Charania notes that the Heat are trading away Highsmith’s salary in order to lessen their tax bill.

The 28-year-old combo forward Highsmith was one of Miami’s fabled undrafted gems. After initially spending time in the NBA G League as well as on a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, Highsmith signed with the Heat in 2021.

Miami managed to develop Highsmith into an impressive contributor on both ends of the floor. He became one of their very best wing defenders at 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot wingspan. Highsmith also shot an impressive 37.5 percent from deep over his Heat career and was a meaningful piece during Miami’s run to the NBA Finals in 2023 (making 18 appearances that postseason).

But Highsmith, who even made 42 starts for the Heat last season, is owed $5.6 million next season. Though that might seem like a negligible amount for an NBA team, shedding that figure means that Miami is now under the luxury-tax threshold for 2025-26 (by about $4.3 million).

The Heat will be banking next season on their defensive core of Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware (along with a potential leap from 24-year-old bench wing Pelle Larsson). As for Highsmith, who made the news a couple of years ago for a difficult off-court situation, he may be able to get more minutes on a rebuilding Nets team before hitting free agency in summer 2026.