{"id":847517,"date":"2026-09-14T13:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/847517\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T13:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:40:10","slug":"player-preview-haywood-highsmiths-role-looks-to-stay-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/847517\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Preview: Haywood Highsmith\u2019s role looks to stay the same"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day, we\u2019ll take a closer look at another member of the 2026-27 Phoenix Suns, examining what they bring to the roster and what their role could mean for the season ahead as we count down to training camp and the preseason.<\/p>\n

Forward, 6\u20195\u201d, 220 lbs, 29, 7th season<\/p>\n

The last edition to the 2025-2026 Phoenix Suns roster, Haywood Highsmith wasn\u2019t able to find his groove as a member of the Phoenix Suns, dealing with injuries before and during his first season with the team. Signing with Phoenix during the NBA All-Star break, his acquisition was viewed by local experts as an insurance policy in case the team lost any forwards during the offseason.<\/p>\n

While the team traded away two of their main forwards from the past few seasons in Grayson Allen and Royce O\u2019Neale, acquiring Miles Bridges and drafting Koa Peat puts Highsmith as a reserve who will get minutes in the waning moments of blowouts, or if a forward ahead of him on the depth chart suffers an injury.<\/p>\n

On a non-guaranteed deal until January 10th, he\u2019ll have to earn his spot on the roster with a strong training camp and preseason.<\/p>\n

Highsmith played in just seven games for the Suns in the regular season and appeared in two postseason games, coming off the bench in all of them. The team signed him while he was recovering from meniscus surgery and it limited him and forced the team to sit him out games after he returned. Playing more than 15 minutes just three times in his ten total games including the playoffs last year, his best game came against the Boston Celtics back in March when he scored 16 points and hit four threes. Amid on low-efficiency, he hit 57.1% of his triples on a small sample size.<\/p>\n

With Rasheer Fleming emerging as primary backup forward once Ryan Dunn\u2019s minutes started to decrease, Highsmith\u2019s value to the team diminished before he even played a game with Phoenix. He played more than 13 minutes just three times in his appearances.<\/p>\n

A member and a key contributor to the 2022-2023 Miami Heat team that made a miraculous Finals run as an eighth seed, Highsmith didn\u2019t score a single point and took two shots in his eleven minutes and two appearances in the team\u2019s short playoff run against the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

2025-26 StatsGPMINPPGRPGAPGSTLFG%3PT%FT%OFFRTGDEFRTG+\/- (TOTAL)713.05.41.91.00.652.2%57.1%85.7%117.8116.1+10<\/p>\n

Contract and Roster Context<\/p>\n

Initially signed to a two-year deal, Phoenix waived and resigned Highsmith in August for more financial flexibility. Currently on a one-year, $3 million deal, his salary becomes fully guaranteed on January 10th, 2027. If he makes the roster, he\u2019ll be eligible to be traded on December 15th. He currently sits behind Miles Bridges and Rasheer Fleming on the depth chart.<\/p>\n

An improved three-point shooter since coming into the league from Wheeling University in West Virginia, Highsmith is one of the team\u2019s most experienced players when it comes to playoff experience. He didn\u2019t play in the playoffs, but was a part of the 2018-2019 Philadelphia Sixers team that suffered a heartbreaking defeat to the Toronto Raptors after Kawhi Leonard\u2019s Game 7 buzzer beater<\/a>, was a member of the Miami Heat when they made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022, and then the NBA Finals as an eighth seed in 2023; and has experienced going home early in the playoffs in his last two years in Miami and last year in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

If Bridges or Fleming get hurt or go through any struggles, Highsmith will be ready to check in. He\u2019s made the playoffs every season of his career and knows what it takes to be a quality regular-season team and knows how to play alongside ball-dominant players and All-Stars after years alongside Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler.<\/p>\n

If his name is called, he\u2019ll provide Phoenix with a gritty defender, a floor spacer and someone who doesn\u2019t need the ball to make an impact.<\/p>\n

Availability. While he played 130 combined games in his two previous seasons, Highsmith was limited to just seven games last year after dealing with a meniscus injury, made his regular season debut in March, and had to miss games once he returned to manage the injury.<\/p>\n

Assuming he comes into the season healthy, Highsmith needs to improve as a free throw shooter. While he shot 86% from the charity stripe on just seven attempts last year, he\u2019s a career 62% free-throw shooter, which limits his abilities late in games. If Highsmith can become more consistent from the line, Suns coach Jordan Ott can rely on him more late in games if Fleming or Bridges get in foul trouble or are injured.<\/p>\n

I do believe Highsmith will make the roster. There aren\u2019t many free agents under 30 who have as much playoff experience and floor-spacing abilities as he does, and for a Phoenix Suns team determined to make a jump in the standings into the top-four, his skillset is valuable if needed.<\/p>\n

While I don\u2019t expect him to play every game, when he\u2019s in, he\u2019ll be a low-maintenance wing that matches up against the other team\u2019s 3\u2019s and 4\u2019s. I see Highsmith putting up as many threes as possible in his limited minutes to align with Ott\u2019s three-point-centric approach.<\/p>\n

Stat Prediction: 60 Games, 5.3, 2.1 RPG, 0.9 APG, 45.8\/38.3\/74<\/p>\n

The Suns should want Highsmith to make the team. They already have a flurry of young players whose roles and potentials are undefined. Highsmith is in the middle of his best seasons and can be a consistent voice for a hungry team devoid of heavy playoff experience outside of a few key players. If he comes in and makes an impact on the team\u2019s spacing when he\u2019s needed and stays healthy, the team should be happy they took a flier on an injured player at the All-Star break a season ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every day, we\u2019ll take a closer look at another member of the 2026-27 Phoenix Suns, examining what they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99,358547,155757],"class_list":["post-847517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-suns-player-previews","tag-suns-roster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}