After he was suspended for the first game of the season and didn’t travel with the team over the weekend, Dion Waiters has been reinstated by the Heat, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
However, according to Winderman, Waiters won’t be in uniform tonight for Miami’s game vs. the Hawks. He also didn’t participate in the Heat’s shootaround this morning, and wasn’t available to comment on the situation.
“He’ll be here tonight,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “He will work out [but] he will not be active tonight. Then we’ll take it from there. Enough has been said about it, and we’ll take it day by day.”
The situation remains an unusual one, with the Heat offering little insight on where things stand with Waiters and not making him available to the media to address the situation himself. Sources tell the Herald duo that Waiters openly complained about his playing time during Miami’s preseason finale and refused to do one of his required weighs-ins that week.
Waiters has a $1.2MM bonus in his contract for appearing in at least 70 games in a season, so it’s fair to assume that in addition to his previous complaints about his role, he’s also not thrilled about missing his fourth straight contest to open the year. The 27-year-old is healthy, but his conditioning may not be at the level the Heat expect.
The Heat are off to a solid start this season, winning two of their first three games despite being without star Jimmy Butler. If that success continues, the club presumably won’t be in any rush to get Waiters and fellow veteran James Johnson back into the rotation. Johnson will also remain inactive tonight due to conditioning issues, per Windmeran.
It’s possible that Waiters and Johnson will meet their conditioning requirements and be activated by the Heat soon, but this is a situation worth watching — both players still have two years remaining on their eight-figure contracts.
Alright all the Arm Chair GM’s out there. What your best reasonable offer for both teams for Waiters ?
He’s back in great shape and is in the Spo doghouse. Just like Whiteside was and you can see his play now.
Any risk takers for an upside player that needs a new start ?
MKG for Waiters ?
Heat get an expiring deal and a player who is a good defender at the 3/4 position. Hornets don’t look like tanking yet so they bring in a SG that can get buckets occasionally.
Waiters and Johnson (also in dog box) for Chandler Parsons and 2 seconds ?
The Hawks get Waiters who can be a good bench scorer and Johnson a good locker room guy and decent back up PF. The Heat save a little bit of money this year and pick up Chandler who’s on an expiring deal. Plus they pick up a couple second rounders
If I’m a young team, I’m not touching Dion freaking waiters with a million foot pole. God forbid that horrendous attitude rubs off on younger guys. And he’ll take shots away, from everybody. What’s the upside for a team like Atlanta or Charlotte having a nut case like Dion around??
You could do the MKG for Waiters swap, but all that gets you is less cap space next summer. He’s not going to help you win games any better than a veteran’s min guy like Lance Stephenson (their production is relatively close).
Granted, Charlotte is just going to blow their cap space in the dumbest way possible, but still. He’s not a great addition.
Waiters, Dragic, and Johnson for CP3, Noel and the 2023 Heat pick that OKC owns.
OKC can get rid of CP3 to give the Shai/Ferguson backcourt more of a shot this year while not having to attach two 1st round picks like Riley asked for this summer, plus see if they can be better fits for Goran and JJ off the bench and Dion as a 3&D wing which I think he can be.
The Heat give Butler his 2nd “star” in CP3, who’s getting pretty used to being 2nd fiddle, who I think can work well Jimmy and move Nunn back to the bench. Plus the Heat finally get to move on from Dion and get a skilled big man in Noel to fill in for the loss of JJ.
If Miami was going to dump Johnson and Waiters, they’d probably have to give up 2 firsts to do it. And I gotta think the Thunder would rather have Chris Paul – who might just garner some trade interest next summer when teams have cap space and no one to spend it on – than Miami’s two biggest contract mistakes.
If I’m OKC, that’s a hard no.
Faaaack no. I wouldn’t take Dion waiters for free, even if his cap hit was a dollar. Not a good player, doesn’t make your team better, makes it worse actually, not a great team guy or locker room guy, terrible attitidue and mentor for the youngins. Not only does Dion not have any upside like you speak of, he has a significant downside. AND he has an outrageous cap number?? Forget about it. The heat are stuck with this nut case
to the lakers for their nosebleed hotdog vender
Think your really over playing how bad Waiters is. Yes he got kissed off at the Heat for Tyler Herro stealing his role which Herro deserves to be fair. But Waiters is hardly as bad as you make him out to be. He’s a career 13/3/3 guy who can shoot decently from 3. In his best season he was 16/4/3 while shooting almost 40% from 3. Plus his contract 12 mil per year for 2 years isn’t as bad as you make it.
I don’t think he’s a good role player or locker player for a young team but a team like the hornets who are young are still trying to stay competitive for some reason. And a backcourt of Rozier and Waiters could work as two guys who feel they have something to prove and guys that can get hot.
As for a CP3 trade I like that idea for Miami but I can’t see OKC giving the Heat anyone f it’s bench players like Noel cause he holds value. I could see a Dragic and Johnson for CP3 and a protected first, maybe involve Dallas and swap Dragic to there and send Hardaway to OKC.
OKC get SGA as its main point and keeps Schroder as the back up. Hardaway gives the team a go to shooter at the 2/3 spot.
Loose canon… damn near untradeable unless in the last year of his contract to a team that tells him “Stay home… we’ll direct-deposit you.” Attitude. Practice fight waiting to happen with another player (or coach). Ask Kyrie.
I could not believe Riley signed Waiters. OKC is the only hope of a place for him to be traded too. The Heat will probably release him in March if they can’t find a taker. Parsons to OKC, Waiters and Johnson to ATL with some OKC picks, Paul to Heat. Atlanta buys out Waiters.
Sounds like a good idea in terms of Parson going to OKC as an expiring contract but salary’s don’t quite work. Miami would still need to give atleast 10mil of salary to OKC.
Johnson is borderline untradeable. Unless Miami is willing to attach a first, he’s not going anywhere.
Waiters is only going somewhere if either a) a contender gets desperate or b) Miami attaches a young player or a pick. His contract is hefty for a guy that doesn’t really play better than an average veteran on the minimum.
Miami is probably going to try and buyout both of these guys. If I was the agent for either of these players, I’d be encouraging them to start planning for life after NBA basketball.
Lot of people that have never seen either of these guys play, or havent looked around the league at comparable players and what they get paid.
Heat need JJ. Could use Waiters if he plays basketball. Hes been injured for 3 years. Dragic comes off the bench, wade came off the bench. Literally no reason to complain
Gotta love the flow of ideas. From the sewers to sparkling streams. Both players are solid bench players and could start if wanted or needed to easily.
Yepper, they are overpaid right now based on last year production.
Certainly not buying a Paul trade with anything less than 3 – 1st.
Parsons, 2 – 2nds for the pair is pretty interesting.
Thought about MKG for Waiters and MKG, Williams for Waiters, JJ but the hard cap math doesn’t work.
How about this 3 team deal ?
Heat: Iggy, Josh Jackson
Pistons: Waiter, Crowder
Grizzlies: JJ, Snell, Galloway plus 2 – 2nds via Pistons.
IF, big IF, Iggy will play for the Heat.
Looks good on paper anyway.
Define “solid bench player” for me, because these two guys are on the tail end of middling careers. They’re not stoppers anymore, and neither has ever been a great shooter.
What’s a 3 and D player if they don’t hit 3’s at an average rate and are too old to play defense? Based on the last three years, neither guy is more valuable than a minimum salary player. Their contracts are awful. Why any team would want either player is beyond me.