Player card
- Team / role: Phoenix Suns veteran reserve forward, matchup defender behind a deep wing rotation
- Exact healthy-game base: 0 MPG; outside the projected 11
- Conditional appearance projection: 30 GP, 10 MPG when used
- 9-cat appearance line: .455 FG (1.1/2.4), .780 FT (0.2/0.3), 0.6 3PM, 3.0 PTS, 1.5 REB, 0.6 AST, 0.4 STL, 0.2 BLK, 0.3 TO
- Projection confidence: Low
- Formats: Waiver-only defensive specialist; negligible points value; deep dynasty roster-fringe veteran
Role and evidence
Highsmith tore the meniscus in his right knee on 2025-08-08 and had surgery on an eight-to-ten-week timeline, then absorbed a rehabilitation setback that cost him the first half of the season with Brooklyn. Waived by the Nets on 2026-02-05, he signed with Phoenix off the buyout market on 2026-02-18 for two years and $3.85M, with the second year not fully guaranteed. He was cleared and off the injury report by 2026-03-02, made his season debut with 21 minutes against Charlotte, and played through the regular-season finale. He appeared in only seven 2025-26 games, averaging 5.4 points in 13 minutes; that sample is too small for a stable statistical baseline, but the knee is not an open question. Sources: CBS Sports, back at full strength, 2026-03-02, CBS Sports, 21 minutes in debut, 2026-03, Hoops Rumors on the signing, 2026-02, Nets medical update, 2025-10-19. Confidence: high on events and clearance, low on rates.
The live constraint is therefore roster arithmetic, not medicine. The current wing room contains Miles Bridges, Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn, Rasheer Fleming, Koa Peat, and guard-sized defensive options, and Highsmith's own 2026-27 salary is not fully guaranteed — for a player projected at 30 appearances, whether he is on the roster in October is a live question rather than a formality. Confidence: high on the contract structure, medium on the rotation read.
Correction 2026-07-18: this dossier previously treated Highsmith's knee as an unresolved rehab on the strength of an October 2025 Nets note and stated that no July clearance had been found. He was cleared 2026-03-02, four and a half months before that framing was written, and finished the season in the rotation. The card is re-gated on role competition and the non-guaranteed second year. Source: CBS Sports, 2026-03-02.
Category shape
- Wins: Potential threes, steals, and low turnovers in a low-usage role.
- Neutral: Percentages historically depend on shot diet and tiny volume.
- Costs: Points, assists, rebounds, and uncertain games/minutes.
- Build fit: Only very deep leagues or short defensive streams after a confirmed role.
Points and dynasty outlook
Hashtag ranked Highsmith No. 384 in dynasty and the July keeper crowd No. 747. Those are consistent with a 29-year-old reserve returning from a major lost season. Sources: Hashtag dynasty, updated 2026-07-02, Hashtag keeper, updated 2026-07-18. Confidence: medium as market context.
Floor, base, ceiling
- Floor: Waived before opening night on the non-guaranteed second year, or remains outside the rotation all season.
- Base: 30 appearances at 10 minutes as a matchup defender.
- Ceiling: Fully healthy, wins 18-20 minutes, and supplies one three plus one steal; deep-league utility only.
Draft verdict
Highsmith should not be drafted without a preseason role. The medical clearance already exists — it arrived on 2026-03-02 — so the argument against him is volume and roster security, not health. His real-life versatility can earn minutes, but the fantasy line lacks the volume to absorb rotation uncertainty, and the non-guaranteed second year means the downside is a waiver, not a bench seat.
Career record
Pre-NBA: Wheeling Jesuit (Division II), four seasons (2014-18) — 22.0 PTS and 12.6 REB as a senior with MEC Player of the Year, MEC tournament MVP, and NABC first-team D-II All-America honors. Undrafted, then the long way around: Delaware Blue Coats 2018-19 (13.7 PTS in 21 games, earning a Sixers two-way), a 2020-21 season with Crailsheim Merlins in Germany (7.9 PTS, 4.4 REB), and a Miami hardship signing in December 2021 that became a standard deal. Draft: undrafted (2018).
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 22 | PHI | 5 | 8.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | .400 | .000 | 0.2 |
| 2021-22 | 25 | MIA | 19 | 8.6 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | .348 | .400 | 0.2 |
| 2022-23 | 26 | MIA | 54 | 17.9 | 4.4 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | .431 | .464 | 0.8 |
| 2023-24 | 27 | MIA | 66 | 20.7 | 6.1 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.2 | .465 | .639 | 0.5 |
| 2024-25 | 28 | MIA | 74 | 24.6 | 6.5 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.2 | .458 | .721 | 0.7 |
| 2025-26 | 29 | PHX | 7 | 13.0 | 5.4 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.1 | .522 | .857 | 0.0 |
| Career | — | — | 225 | 19.8 | 5.4 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.0 | .450 | .620 | 0.6 |
Durability: Durable in his established years — 54, 66, and 74 games from 2022-25 with only routine absences. The 2025-26 season collapsed to 7 games because of the August 2025 right-knee meniscus tear, a rehab setback with Brooklyn (traded there August 15, 2025, waived February 5, 2026 without appearing), and the March 2 clearance after signing with Phoenix. The 2019-20 and 2020-21 gaps were G League and Germany, not injury. Trajectory: The record is a Division II grinder who built a real 3-and-D role in Miami — by 2024-25 he was a 74-game, 24-minute wing with 1.2 threes, 0.9 steals, and elite low turnovers — before the knee and the Brooklyn detour reset him to buyout-market pricing. In 2026-27 he competes for matchup-defender minutes in a Phoenix wing room that runs six deep, on a second contract year that is not fully guaranteed. He becomes fantasy-relevant only if he wins roughly 18-20 minutes and reproduces the 2024-25 threes-plus-steals shape; anything less is waiver-only, and the realistic downside is a camp cut rather than a bench seat. Career sources: ESPN career stats · Wikipedia · Basketball-Reference
Open questions
- Does Phoenix guarantee his 2026-27 salary, or is he a camp cut?
- Is he ahead of Dunn, Fleming, or Peat for any matchup role?
- Does his post-clearance March-April usage translate to a defined role in a deeper wing room?