After a series of setbacks and suspensions doled out by his own squad, Dion Waiters’ future in the NBA looks bleak, ESPN’s Bobby Marks writes. The 28-year-old has been suspended three separate times by the Miami Heat and hasn’t seen action yet in the regular season.
While Waiters’ latest six-game ban is coming to an end, Marks writes in a much recommended Insider feature that executives he’s spoken to agree that the guard’s career is likely over barring a turn of events.
Given the distractions that Waiters has caused over the course of the 2019-20 campaign the Heat could look to move the swingman’s contract but there are few scenarios in which a trade seems realistic.
Waiters is owed $12.1 million and an additional $12.7 next year, so the Heat would need to include some sort of sweetener to a franchise willing to take on that obligation.
Marks writes that Miami’s young core of Kendrick Nunn, Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro aren’t available to be thrown in as incentive to facilitate a move. The franchise is unable to include a first-round pick this year, as well.
The Heat, then, have to consider the benefits of buying Waiters’ contract out and eating the money or simply just eating the money and keeping Waiters on the roster but away from the team.
The unceremonious end to Waiters’ tenure with the Heat is difficult to watch given the narrative that unfolded in Miami during the team’s impressive 2016-17 campaign.
Waiters averaged 15.8 points per game for the Heat that season and played a major role in the club’s memorable push for a playoff spot. He was rewarded with a four-year contract months later.
