As the start of the upcoming season inches closer, the Miami Heat will likely need to open training camp in late September without forward Haywood Highsmith.
The Heat announced Friday that Highsmith underwent successful surgery to repair a meniscal tear in his right knee. He sustained the injury during a recent offseason training session in his hometown of Baltimore.
The 35-minute procedure was performed by Heat team physician Dr. Harlan Selesnick on Friday at Doctors Hospital Surgery Center in Miami.
Highsmith will begin rehabbing from the surgery immediately, but he’s expected to miss eight to 10 weeks. The Heat will begin training camp in seven weeks on Sept. 30 and will open the regular season in 10.5 weeks.
Highsmith, who went undrafted out of Wheeling University in 2018, has developed into one of the Heat’s latest undrafted success stories.
After playing in 100 G League games and spending the 2020-21 season in the German Basketball Bundesliga, Highsmith initially joined the Heat in the middle of the 2021-22 season on a 10-day contract. He had played in just five regular-season NBA games prior to signing with Miami.
Highsmith, 29, has since carved out a role for himself with the Heat as a three-and-D rotation player. In his first four seasons with the Heat, Highsmith has appeared in 213 regular-season games (80 starts) and played in 35 playoff games (zero starts).
Last regular season, Highsmith averaged career highs in points (6.5 per game), assists (1.5), steals (0.9) and blocks (0.5) while appearing in a career-high 74 games and making a career-high 42 starts. He shot 45.8% from the field and 38.2% on 3.1 three-point attempts per game last regular season.
Highsmith is due $5.6 million this upcoming season in the second and final year of his contract. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
Highsmith is among the 14 players signed by the Heat to standard contracts for next season along with Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Terry Rozier, Norman Powell, Davion Mitchell, Simone Fontecchio, Nikola Jovic, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson. Miami still has one open standard roster spot since 15 players on standard contracts is the regular-season limit.
The two two-way contract players are Myron Gardner and Vlad Goldin, with the third two-way slot still open to sign another developmental prospect.
HALL OF FAME PRESENTERS
With the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announcing the list of presenters for the 2025 Hall of Fame class on Thursday, it was revealed that Heat owner Micky Arison has selected Heat icons Alonzo Mourning, Pat Riley and Dwyane Wade as the presenters for his Hall of Fame induction.
Wade was also chosen by Carmelo Anthony to be one of the presenters for his Hall of Fame induction this year. Allen Iverson is Anthony’s other presenter.
In addition, former Heat guard Tim Hardaway was picked to be a Hall of Fame presenter for retired NBA referee Danny Crawford during this year’s enshrinement ceremony.
Wade and retired Heat star Chris Bosh will also be among the presenters for the gold medal-winning 2008 USA men’s basketball team that they were on. The 2008 USA men’s basketball squad is being presented by all the members of the team who have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Only previously inducted Hall of Famers are eligible to serve as presenters, with the incoming Hall of Famers choosing who will present them. Presenters do not speak, but they stand alongside the incoming Hall of Famer they are presenting for their induction speech.
The induction ceremony for the 2025 class is scheduled to take place on Sept. 6 in Springfield, Massachusetts.