There was an intriguing story out of a well-respected Miami Heat fan blog on Tuesday. Its authors contended that the Brooklyn Nets put pressure on the Heat to get the Haywood Highsmith done after Pat Riley apparently dawdled.
According to Five Reasons Sports’ insider Ethan Skolnick, the Heat had been trying to trade Highsmith before acquiring Norman Powell.
The Haywood Highsmith trade from the Miami Heat to the Brooklyn Nets did not come together quickly,” Skolnick wrote Monday. “(The Miami Heat) wanted to create opportunities for younger players, with Highsmith not figuring into the regular rotation. So they looked for a deal for a while, and were open to moving him as part of the package for Norman Powell.
After acquiring Powell, the Heat still looked to move Highsmith. According to Five on the Floor sources, no team was offering a draft pick to the Heat. The Heat engaged with the Nets, who wanted a second-round selection to take Highsmith into their cap space; they are the only team in the NBA with enough to do so and not flinch.
Highsmith hurt his knee in an offseason workout, meaning he likely won’t be ready for training camp. That eliminated the chance for interest from a team other the Nets, since the Nets aren’t really concerned about winning this season. And then the Nets came back to the Heat and said they had other plans if the Heat didn’t take a deal now.
Other than a look inside the process, always fun, the last line suggests that Sean Marks & Co. is interested in working his way through $16 and $22 million in cap space he still has handy, depending on the fate of five non or partially guaranteed contracts and Cam Thomas restricted free agency.
The Nets came back to the Heat and said they had other plans if the Heat didn’t take a deal now.
Whatever the other deal was (or is), it hasn’t been finalized yet, but neither have a couple of other agreements: the identical two-year, $12 million contracts reserved for Day-Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams, Exhibit 10s reported for Fanbo Zeng and Grant Nelson and of course Thomas’ situation. It increasingly appears that those will be left till the end of free agency. It’s not Sean Marks just checking tasks off a list on Nets letterhead. There are different alternatives and sequences determined largely by the CBA. Is it better for the team to give Sharpe or Williams the $8.8 million Room-MLE? What about Bird Rights for CamT? What should happen first? How can they get to the salary cap floor by October 21, opening night around the league?
There are a few teams out there who could still benefit from a salary dump. The Cavaliers and Max Strus … the Celtics and Anfernee Simons … the Magic and Jett Howard. It might not return the Nets an unprotected first rounder and solid rotation player, as did their participation in the Boston-Atlanta trade or an unprotected future first rounder and an established if now tarnished scorer as the Denver deal did. Maybe not even a future unprotected second as in the Highsmith trade. But Marks (and before him Sam Presti) didn’t get to 30+ picks in seven years without being aggressive.
There’s no real deadline out there other than Cam Thomas on October 1 unless of course the Nets want to get additional flexibility on the Sharpe and Williams deals. If the Nets wanted them to be available on the unofficial start of trade season, December 15, they’ll have to get signatures on paper or a screen by September 15. Otherwise, they’ll have to wait till January 15. It’s that kind of minutia that off-seasons are made of.
As for the Off-Season, David Aldridge of The Athletic wrote this week about the Nets off-season, the latest attempt by pundits of make sense of what has become Brooklyn’s unconventional rebuild. He lays out all the additions, subtractions, salary dumps etc. and provides this analysis at the end.
Someone has to score on bad teams, so Porter Jr. will have the green light from jump while he’s at Barclays Center. It feels like the Nets sold a little low on Johnson, though I get speculating on that ’32 first becoming a golden ticket. And while each of the five players Brooklyn got in the draft have solid skills, particularly Demin and Saraf, there’s no way the Nets planned to use all of their ’25 firsts. I’m pretty sure they hoped to use them to move up into the top five and get a real difference-maker who could accelerate the rebuild. That was a missed opportunity. Another tank season looms, with the stakes now even higher to get a top-four pick in 2026.
Aldridge despite his ho-hum analysis likes what Marks did better that seven other teams, including the Heat, Lakers, Suns, Pelicans, Pacers and Celtics.
