{"id":71502,"date":"2025-08-16T00:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T00:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/71502\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T00:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T00:43:10","slug":"nets-acquire-haywood-highsmith-in-trade-with-2032-draft-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/71502\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets acquire Haywood Highsmith in trade with 2032 draft implications"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Nets turned some of their cap space into a distant draft asset.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sean Marks, flush with room under the salary floor, acquired an unprotected 2032 second-round pick from the Heat by absorbing the expiring contract of power forward Haywood Highsmith, a source confirmed Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Highsmith was a regular part of Miami\u2019s rotation the past two years but recently underwent surgery to repair a meniscus tear suffered during offseason workouts. The Heat announced Aug. 8 that Highsmith is expected to return in eight to 10 weeks, which is not long after the regular season begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"36843917\" width=\"734\" height=\"490\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2211979085.jpg\" alt=\"Haywood Highsmith #24 of the Miami Heat dribbles the ball during the game against Cleveland Cavaliers \" class=\"wp-image-36843917\" style=\"width:734px;height:auto;aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\"  \/>Haywood Highsmith (24) of the Heat dribbles the ball against the Cavaliers during an April 28 game. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Once recovered, Highsmith, who averaged 6.5 points last season and owns a steady 3-point stroke, theoretically could compete for a Nets rotation spot. But Brooklyn, which drafted five players in the first round this year, is prioritizing development, and it\u2019s hard to see the fit for a 28-year-old on a $5.6 million expiring deal. More realistically, Highsmith becomes a trade asset before the deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Nets, the only NBA squad this offseason with significant cap space, remain roughly $22 million below the salary cap, according to ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks. Their biggest question remaining is whether to pay Cam Thomas, who will hit unrestricted free agency next summer if he doesn\u2019t agree to a contract extension before this upcoming season begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"36843879\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/miami-heat-forward-haywood-highsmith-72797598.jpg\" alt=\"Jalen Brunson and Haywood Highsmith vying for the basketball.\" class=\"wp-image-36843879\"  \/>Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) and Miami Heat forward Haywood Highsmith (24) fight for control of the ball. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>For the Heat, the trade was financially driven. It places them under the luxury tax and creates more room below the first-apron hard cap. After trading Jimmy Butler last season, Miami barely qualified for the playoffs and got swept by the Cavs in the first round. They can build around Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, but coach Erik Spoelstra clearly is missing the type of superstar required for postseason success.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As part of the deal, the Nets also gave the Heat a meaningless 2026 second-round pick. It won\u2019t convey unless Brooklyn, which is built to tank, finishes with a top-five record next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nets turned some of their cap space into a distant draft asset.\u00a0 Sean Marks, flush with room&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,5997,7223,590,15012,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-71502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sean-marks","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}