From G League to Germany to Heat starter, Highsmith has arrived: ‘He’s a winning basketball player’

When asked what has changed for the Miami Heat since its 1-4 start, Jimmy Butler offered a succinct answer.

“Haywood, because he’s starting,” Butler said.

The Heat entered Saturday night’s matchup against the Chicago Bulls at United Center on a seven-game winning streak that began when forward Haywood Highsmith was moved into the starting lineup.

Of course, there are other reasons behind the Heat’s early-season turnaround: Bam Adebayo has been dominant, Butler now appears to be in his usual All-NBA form after a slow start to the season, Duncan Robinson continues to open eyes with his expanded offensive game, Jaime Jaquez Jr. looks to be one of the steals of this year’s draft, and Tyler Herro was off to an excellent start before spraining his ankle last week.

But Highsmith’s emergence as an essential part of the Heat’s rotation and his promotion to a full-time starting role has become one of the biggest stories surrounding the team through the first month of the season. In Highsmith’s fourth NBA season, he’s averaging career-highs in points (8.1 per game), assists (1.4), steals (1.3), blocks (1) and minutes (26.1) while logging double-digit minutes in every game he’s been available for this season after not getting consistent playing time last season.

“There’s just a lot of hard work behind the scenes that’s behind this,” Highsmith, 26, said. “Everything that I’ve went through to get to this point is well worth it. It’s made me stronger for anything.”

Before joining the Heat in the middle of the 2021-22 season, Highsmith had played in just five regular-season NBA games.

After going undrafted out of Wheeling University in 2018, Highsmith appeared in 100 games (72 starts) for the Philadelphia 76ers’ G League affiliate. He also played overseas prior to joining the Heat, spending the 2020-21 season in the German Basketball Bundesliga.

“There’s a lot of beauty in the struggle,” Highsmith said, reflecting back on his long and winding road to a starting role in the NBA. “I got here, it’s been a long journey, so just appreciating everything and being grateful to be here. I’m grateful to be with an organization that accepts me for who I am and is really helping me get better and really embracing me. I’m grateful to be here, I’m blessed.”

Did Highsmith ever doubt he could make it in the NBA along the way?

“Yeah, a little bit maybe,” he said. “Because you’re over there, you’re not in the USA, not a lot of people are looking there. So you doubt it a little bit if you can get back to the NBA because I’ve been there and I wanted to get back. So I kind of did doubt it, but I just put my head down and worked and controlled what I could control.”

After two years in the Heat’s developmental system, Highsmith has not only earned a starting role and become the team’s next undrafted success story, but also established himself as one of the team’s top defenders early this season. At 6-foot-5 with a 7-foot wingspan, he has the versatility and length to effectively guard most positions on the court.

During extended stretches as the primary defender on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (2 of 6 from the field), Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1 of 6), Hawks guard Dejounte Murray (0 of 1) and forward Mikal Bridges (0 of 1), those players combined to shoot just 3 of 14 from the field against Highsmith this season.

The Heat’s defense also entered Saturday allowing 3.2 fewer points per 100 possessions with Highsmith on the court this season.

“Being myself, being the defender I know I can be. I told people before that I have aspirations of being All-Defensive team and stuff like,” said Highsmith, who totaled 10 steals and eight blocks in his first eight appearances of the season. “So just doing what I said I was going to do.

“I could see me getting on an All-Defensive team because I feel like I can guard a lot of different positions, I’m active and have long arms, quick, strong. So making an All-Defensive team is definitely a goal for me this season. It’s a realistic goal, for sure.”

On the offensive end, Highsmith’s main function is to help space the floor with his three point shot. That’s led some to label Highsmith as a three-and-D player, but he believes he can be much more than that.

“Obviously, I can play defense and I can make threes, but I don’t want that to be the only thing I can do,” said Highsmith, who entered Saturday shooting an efficient 12 of 16 (75 percent) from inside the paint compared to 10 of 32 (31.3 percent) from three-point range this season. “I can attack, I can get to my floaters, I can pass, do different things. So obviously, I’m good at defense and hitting threes right now, and that’s a role that this team needs. A lot of different teams need guys like that. But I just don’t want to be labeled as just that type of guy.”

The label Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has put on Highsmith: winning player.

“He’s taking on all the big challenges,” Spoelstra said of Highsmith, who is set to be a restricted free agent this upcoming summer. “He has the emotional and mental stability to be able to defend great players knowing that they’re going to score, knowing that they’re going to compromise you at times. But you have to always be there. You can’t make mistakes. That’s what he’s really good at. You do that over and over and over, you just hope that they get a little bit out of rhythm. Great players are never going to get fully out of rhythm. But he’s a winning basketball player, for sure.”

INJURY REPORT

The only Heat players ruled out for Saturday’s game against the Bulls are Jamal Cain (G League), R.J. Hampton (right knee sprain) and Herro (right ankle sprain).

Saturday marks the start of a five-game trip for the Heat. In addition, the Heat and Bulls will face off again in Chicago on Monday to complete their two-game set in Chicago.