Jacari McRae | October 21st, 2019
On Saturday night, the Miami Heat announced that they suspended Dion Waiters for conduct detrimental to the team. Heat president Pat Riley was quoted as saying the suspension stemmed from “a number of unacceptable incidents this week, culminating with his unprofessional conduct on the bench last night.”
The specifics of the incident are unknown. However, it’s clear Waiters has been unhappy about playing in a reserve role. In four preseason games, Waiters has averaged 14.3 minutes per game off the bench and missed one game for “personal reasons.”
Instead of quietly accepting his suspension, Waiters took to Instagram to take jabs at Erik Spoelstra and the Heat. Dion took a shot at Spoelstra, saying he won two titles only because he had LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade with him while also mocking comments stating Tyler Herro was a better player than him.
https://twitter.com/Brendan_Tobin/status/1185902848942452736?s=19
If Waiters is trying to cause a ruckus to get traded, it’s likely not helping his case. There appears to be a better chance of him remaining on the Heat’s roster. According to Sean Deveney of the Heavy, an NBA GM told him no teams are interested in acquiring the Heat shooting guard.
“They’ve been trying to trade him since last Christmas,” one GM told Heavy.com. “No one was trying to take him on then. After this kind of thing, it would be really hard to take him on now. He has had this kind of junk attached to him just about his whole career.”
Waiters will miss the Heat’s season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. As it stands, he’s expected to return in time for Miami’s game at Milwaukee on Saturday. But if he continues this act, it’s a great possibility the team may suspend him for additional games. After banishing James Johnson from training camp earlier this month, the Heat have shown they will punish players who don’t follow the rules.
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