Wheeling, W. Va. – Over the last few weeks, former Wheeling University Men's Basketball standout Haywood Highsmith has been helping the NBA's Miami Heat through some injury trouble. Yesterday, his stay in Miami became more permanent as the team announced that they have agreed to a three-year deal with the full details to come later. There is also said to be at least one team option in the deal and the signing will give the Heat a full 15-man roster.
Prior to this signing, Highsmith had signed three 10-day contracts with the team to help fill out the 15-man roster. He signed his first contract on Decber 30th, 2021, after the Heat were in trouble losing players due to COVID-19. He immediately made his presence known, scoring nine points in his Heat debut and became a regular off the Heat bench. He would sign two subsequent 10-day contracts and would appear in nine total games during that span. He has averaged 2.7 points per game and 1.6 rebounds per game in his nine games, while shooting 40% from three-point range and 48.5% from the floor. The Heat had to decide whether to cut Higsmith, sign him to a two-way contract, or extend him and they decided to extend him.
This is the first multi-year deal of Highsmith's career, and just the fifth contract he signed since he signed a two-way deal with the Philadelphia 76ers back in 2018-2019. Prior to joining the Heat, Highsmith was playing in the NBA's G-League with the Delaware Blue Coats of the Philadelphia 76ers. I three years with the Blue Coats, Highsmith averaged just over 11 points per game with a career 43% field goal percentage and 34% shooting percentage from three-point range. His best season with the Blue Coats was this last season, 2020-2021, when he averaged a career-high 13.6 points per game and shot nearly 50% from the floor and 40% from three-point range.
Prior to his NBA career, Highsmith was a standout here at Wheeling University, playing four seasons in the red and black. Highsmith is the third highest scorer in Wheeling Men's Basketball history with 1,952 career points and is one of only four Cardinals to ever eclipse the 1,900 point mark. Highsmith helped lead the Cardinals to an MEC Championship in 2017-2018 and helped them head to the NCAA Atlantic Regional tournament in three of his four seasons with the Cardinals. During his senior year, he won the Mountain East Conference (MEC)'S player of the year and was a National Basketball Coach's Association (NBCA) first-team All-American. He began his professional career representing the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 NBA Internarional G-League before signing a two-way contract with the 76ers following that stint.
Highsmith will now be a fixture on the Heat roster and hopes to continue to be a key player for the rest of the 2021-2022 season.
