Heat quietly part ways with two key role players this summer, a move that may have significant implications for their roster construction and team chemistry. The departures of these veteran players, who have been instrumental in the team's success in recent years, will undoubtedly leave a void that needs to be filled by the remaining players.

For as much as the Miami Heat’s offseason deserves to be lauded, it also includes a pair of risks not being talked about nearly enough: The departures of Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith.

After spending seven years in Miami, Robinson was shipped off to the Detroit Pistons in a sign-and-trade that landed Simone Fontecchio’s expiring contract. Meanwhile, in their most confusing move of the summer, the Heat attached a 2032 second-rounder to Haywood Smith’s own $5.6 million expiring deal, and sent him to the Brooklyn Nets so that they could skirt the luxury tax, while signing Dru Smith.

These transactions have not often drawn headlines. When they have, the moves are viewed through the lens of Miami’s desire for financial flexibility and asset management, as it continues to wait on the availability of Giannis Antetokounmpo, or another star.

Make no mistake, though, the losses of Highsmith and Robinson are more than just routine bookkeeping. These players mattered.

The Heat could struggle to replace Highsmith and Robinson

Highsmith and Robinson ranked third and fourth, respectively, in total minutes played for the Heat last season. That is not court time their primary replacements have ever known.

Fontecchio is viewed as a viable Robinson stand-in yet, but has logged more than 1,500 minutes just once. Highsmith’s absence will be papered over by committee, but the player Miami traded him to sign, Dru Smith, has never even totaled 300 minutes in a single season.

It also just so happens that Highsmith and Robinson typified desirable player archetypes when on the floor. Robinson is among the most lethal floor-spacers in the game. Since 2019-20, he’s drilling 39.9 percent of threes. The only player during this stretch to match that efficiency while making at least as many triples (1,192) is…Stephen Curry (1,575). That is legitimately insane.

Replacing HIghsmith’s combination of three-point shooting and defense will prove just as difficult. Over each of the past two seasons, he has rated in the 93rd percentile or higher in the time spent guarding the other team’s highest-usage player, and the 77th percentile or higher in accuracy from beyond the arc. Just one other player has done the same while tallying as many minutes, according to BBall Index: Lu Dort.

Miami better hope this risk is worth prize

Moving on from Highsmith and Robinson is not some death knell for the franchise. Neither is a star, and the Heat have plenty of reasons for heading down a different path.

Robinson needed a new contract. Highsmith is recovering from knee surgery, and will be a free agent next summer. Critics would have slammed Miami if, as a non-contender, it backed up the Brink’s truck to keep either one. Retaining Robinson, specifically, would have made the highway robbery that was the Norman Powell trade much harder to pull off.

Still, neither the Robinson nor Highsmith exit needed to happen. The Heat could have figured out other ways to go about their offseason business. Their order of operations is both a nod to the immovability of Terry Rozier, and an attempt to position themselves for the next available superstar trade target or free agent.

Time will tell whether this year’s team is materially better than last season’s squad, and whether Miami made the right calls on Robinson and Haysmith. Until then, we must accept these departures for what they are: equal parts justifiable, meaningful, and risky.