The Phoenix Suns have plenty of offseason priorities, but Haywood Highsmith is not one of them. That is the wrong approach to take with the 29-year-old, who should begin next season with the franchise.
Haywood is too versatile defensively on a cheap contract to ditch
Although the Suns have a team option on the final year of his current deal, Haywood is making just over $3 million. For an organization that also has to bring back guys such as Collin Gillespie, Jordan Goodwin and perhaps even Mark Williams, that is value for money that can't be ignored.
Highsmith signed for the team midway through last season, although he arrived already injured. He made only seven regular season appearances, although there were encouraging signs for the former Miami Heat player. Not that the advanced numbers do him any favors, the Suns were worse defensively when he was on the court, but the sample size is small.
Coming from Miami is an endorsement itself, given their amazing ability to find value around the fringes and add it to their roster for long playoff runs. A skill that the Suns have gotten much better at, and looking at how the rest of this decade is going to go it is a method of roster building they are going to have to rely on.
It is also worth noting that all of the major offseason questions the Suns have revolve around either guards (Gillespie, Goodwin, Jamaree Bouyea) or true bigs (Williams), meaning they are likely to run it back at the forward position with the players that they have.
Dillon Brooks being the best defensive-minded forward on the roster, although he is also eligible for an extension. Ryan Dunn has struggled while both Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale are the two best trade assets the franchise has available to them right now.
Which places even greater importance on having a rotation level player they can plug into their roster throughout the campaign.
Highsmith is exactly that, and averaging exactly the same amount of points in Phoenix such a short amount of time as he has for his career (5.4) is a small sign that there is more productivity to be had from him given the chance.
Not even a surprise draft pick at this position should deter the Suns from giving Highsmith a bigger role next season before deciding what to do next. It will pay off for everybody.
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