Grizzlies Don’t Intend To Retain Dion Waiters

The Grizzlies will receive Dion Waiters in the three-way trade with the Heat, though they do not plan on keeping the guard. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), a buyout agreement or outright release is “on the horizon” for Waiters.

The former No. 4 overall pick had issues with the Heat prior to the trade. He’s been suspended three times this season, including one for conduct detrimental to the team and one for rules violations. Even when he was available, he wasn’t part of the team’s rotation, appearing in just 42 total minutes over three games.

Waiters is on a fully guaranteed contract worth $12.1MM this season and $12.65MM in 2020/21, so the Grizzlies will have to take on a sizable chunk of dead money to move on from him. His ’20/21 cap hit could be stretched across three seasons, but Memphis probably prefers to keep it limited to one year.

Justise Winslow is the lone Heat player in the trade who will actually play for Memphis. The franchise re-directed James Johnson to Minnesota, picking up Gorgui Dieng before the deadine.

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