Palmer started her college basketball with Oregon State in 2009 and averaged 10.8 points for the 2009–10 season. She left Oregon after the season, along with several of her teammates due to their dissatisfaction with coach LaVonda Wagner, and joined Gonzaga where she played until 2014. She was named the 2011-12 WCC Newcomer of the Year and the 2013 WCC Most Outstanding Player at the WCC Women's Basketball Championship. She helped Gonzaga to three WCC regular-season titles, two WCC Tournament Championships and three NCAA Tournaments, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2012. After her senior season in 2014, she was recognized as an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press.
Professional career
Palmer was drafted by the Indiana Fever in the 2014 WNBA Draft but was waived on May 12. Her first professional stop was with Indios de Mayagüez of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional Femenino in 2014. She spent the 2014–2015 season with Elizur Natanya in Israel where she averaged 15.1 points and 7.2 rebounds in 19 games. In 2015 she signed with Snæfell of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild kvenna. Snæfell started the season by winning the Icelandic Super Cup on 11 October 2015, beating Grindavík 79-45, where Palmer had 22 points and 8 assists. In February 2016, she helped Snæfell to the Icelandic Basketball Cup finals. In the Cup finals, Haiden had a triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in Snæfell's 78-70 victory over Grindavík and was named the Cup Finals MVP. Palmer led Snæfell to a 3-2 victory over Haukar in the Úrvalsdeild finals. She was named the Finals MVP after she broke Olga Færseth's 22-year old scoring record by scoring 134 points in the five games. After the season she was named the Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year. Palmer signed with Herner TC of the Damen-Basketball-Bundesliga for the 2016–2017 season where she averaged 13.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.9 steals in 22 games. She moved to TSV 1880 Wasserburg in 2017 and helped the club to both the DBBL and cup finals. She also played for the club in the EuroCup Women, averaging 11.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game. In July 2018, Palmer signed with TK Hannover of the DBBL. She spent the 2019-20 season with Tapiolan Honka in the Naisten Korisliiga where she averaged 19.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. On 25 June 2020, Palmer returned to the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, signing back with Snæfell.
