Dion Waiters 'set to return' but Miami Heat future uncertain
Tuesday 24 December 2019 06:54, UK
Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters will be reinstated from a six-game suspension after Monday night's game against the Utah Jazz, according to the Miami Herald, but reports are questioning his future with the team and in the league.
The 28-year-old, an eight-year NBA veteran out of Syracuse, was suspended without pay earlier this month for the third time this season for violation of team rules and insubordination.
Waiters has yet to play this season. He appeared in 44 games for the Heat last season, averaging 12 points, 2.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game.
The Herald reported on Monday the Heat said Waiters would rejoin the team as soon as Tuesday, participate in practice and be with the team on the bench during games, but whether he appears in a game again is in doubt.
Multiple sources told the Herald the Heat would prefer to sever ties with Waiters, but there currently are not any appealing options to make that move.
Waiters and the Heat would have to agree to keep him away from the team while he is still being paid, but there is no such agreement, the Herald said, adding with no team interested in trading for Waiters, it would benefit Miami to keep the guard on its payroll because his salary could be used as a contract to financially even out a trade.
Waiters signed a four-year, $52m contract with Miami in July 2017.
A source told the Herald the Heat have been open to a buyout of the final 18 months of his deal, but Waiters has not been inclined to accept less than the $12.1m he's owed this year and the $12.7m he's due to earn next season.
A league executive told ESPN Waiters' contract is "as close to untradable that I have ever seen in the NBA".
Several league executives told ESPN Waiters' NBA career probably is over, barring an unlikely turnaround.
Waiters' agent, Rich Paul, reportedly has declined to comment on his client's situation.
