Will Waiters play again for the Heat? Here’s the latest
A six-pack of Heat notes on a Tuesday, with Miami set to play host to Detroit on Tuesday night:
▪ With Dion Waiters in the early stages of a 10-game Heat suspension, there have been conflicting reports about his future with the team. Two South Florida reporters have speculated that he has played his last game for the Heat, whereas The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that “the Heat are going to welcome him back after this 10-game absence.”
Charania said: “The Heat has let Dion Waiters know we need you back in this rotation. We want you to come back and earn your stripes.”
So which of these reports is the truth?
I’m told that the door has not definitively been closed on a Waiters return, but it would take a lot for Waiters to earn the trust needed to return. He would need to be contrite and do absolutely everything right for the Heat to consider playing him again. An injury to a perimeter player could certainly create a path to playing.
Could the Heat never play him again? That’s absolutely a possibility. But they have not made that decision as of this point.
And as the Herald reported Monday, Miami cannot release him because it would not have the cap space, under the hard cap, to add a required 14th player if he was released (at least until Jan. 5).
And Miami could not simply order Waiters to stay away permanently without Waiters acquiescing. A buyout is not considered a likely option at this point.
One behind-the-scenes unknown is whether NBA power agent Rich Paul, who is Waiters’ new agent, will do anything to challenge the Heat’s actions with Waiters. There has not been anything to suggest that he has to this point, and Paul declined to respond to an interview request.
But it’s notable that the ESPN report that Waiters suffered a panic attack, after reportedly ingesting a THC-infused gummy, has been disputed by a league source with direct knowledge. If that “panic attack” information was given to ESPN by Paul — which wouldn’t be a stretch to conclude — it would serve Paul’s and Waiters’ interests by bringing the mental health issue into the equation.
Charania is right when he said “there isn’t a buyout on the horizon. They are stuck with each other. He has to get back into the good graces and earn back the benchmarks the Heat foundation has set.”
Waiters’ suspension ends after the Nov. 29 game against Golden State.
Waiters is due $25 million over the final two years of his contract,which expires after next season.
▪ There were more than handful of issues that led to the Waiters suspension. The four known ones: Thursday’s incident on the flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles as detailed here, his behavior on the bench against Houston in the preseason finale, his refusal to do one mandatory weigh-in (as I reported) and his social media posts taking passive-aggressive shots at Erik Spoelstra and Tyler Herro.
There were at least a couple of others, too.
Incidentally, the Heat wasn’t thrilled that Waiters worked on his own this summer instead of joining teammates for offseason on-court work at AmericanAirlines Arena.
▪ One of the appealing aspects of this roster is that the Heat, for the first time in a few seasons, has two highly skilled three-point shooting centers in Meyers Leonard (who leads the league in three-point shooting at 9 for 17 and a 39.2 percent career three-point shooter) and Kelly Olynyk (a career 36.5 percent three-point shooter and 12 for 38 this season).
“You want to be able to exploit opponent defenses, and we have two seven footers who can stretch the floor,” Spoelstra said. “It opens up the floor to attackers and for the pick-and-roll game. They each have a different way of getting to their strengths. Meyers is such a great screener, gets guys open. KO has some playmaking ability as well that can put unique pressure on a defense.”
Spoelstra remains open-minded about who will start alongside Adebayo - whether it’s Leonard (who has started all season) or eventually Olynyk again.
▪ It seems as though Spoelstra is really,really enjoying coaching this team, but Spoelstra wanted to set the record straight on how that’s portrayed.
“I know that’s been a narrative out there but would do a disservice to some of the other teams I have been blessed enough to coach,” he said. “I’m thrilled to be in this profession doing what we’re able to do, work with teams and build them during the course of the season and get a group that can eventually accomplish something special, to get out of themselves — and do something bigger than themselves.”
What does he like about this team that makes it fun to coach?
“It’s a new challenge, a new group — group has a lot of optimism and a work ethic to back up their dreams.”
▪ Kendrick Nunn enjoyed the feedback he received from Dwayne Wade when they spoke on Friday in Los Angeles. Nunn signed with the Heat on the last day of the season but wasn’t in attendance for Wade’s final game that night.
“He told me he’s happy for me, to continue to develop and learn, be a sponge, just learn as much as I can,” Nunn said. “It was definitely meaningful coming from him, someone who has been in this organization and left their legacy here and created a culture, has been part of a culture and championship for years. It was definitely big coming from him. I’ve been watching him since I can remember. Years going back, he was one of my favorite players for sure.”
▪ Nunn said there is “a slight difference” in how teams are defending him but it’s “random, mixing it up.”
So how does Nunn combat that? “Make more QB reads, make reads off the pick-and-rolls and make more plays off that.”
Nunn averaged 22.4 points and shot 51.8 percent in his first five games but averaged 9.3 points and shot 34.4 percent in his last four games.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 1:03 PM.
