Could The Dion Waiters Era Be Over In Miami?
Well this is an interesting little development we have here. I blogged a few weeks ago how it wasn’t looking like Waiters was going to be ready for training camp as he recovers from his injury and then with Jimmy Butler putting MIA on his list, it’s no surprise Riley is exploring options. However, if the reports are true and it really has nothing to do with Jimmy Butler, there’s really only one explanation.
Pat Riley is mad Dion Waiters stole all that damn money.
For those who don’t know, Waiters signed a 4/52M contract last summer when he looked like this
He got into the MIA program from OKC and was in the best shape of his life, and his play benefitted from it. However, once he secured the bag and got hurt, this is where we are today with over 30M left on his deal
On one hand, I commend the finesse from Waiters. He did what he had to do to get that money and now that he has it he’s clearly been enjoying the finest cuisine Miami has to offer. If you know anything about Pat Riley, you know that he is absolutely obsessed with being in shape. It’s often said the Heat training program is the hardest in the league, and the same thing goes for their practices. Pat Riley will not accept fat, out of shape, lazy players. Part of me thinks this has something to do with Riley making calls, the only problem is I’m not exactly sure there’s a legit market for Waiters. In order to move him, they’ll probably have to sweeten the deal, which may hamper their ability to trade for Butler.
Advertisement
The other part of this is maybe his injury is more serious than they initially thought. Perhaps that ankle isn’t responding the way they hoped, and that has them a little concerned moving forward. As I put in that first blog, they have a bunch of decisions to make at their guard position in the next few years, so maybe they feel like Waiters is not going to be a reliable option moving forward. That sucks, because Waiters is one of the most entertaining supreme confidence players in the entire NBA. If you ask him to rank the best players in the league he’d go
1. Dion Waiters
2. LeBron
3. Everyone else.
I think on some level it’s a little unfair to be mad at Waiters about his shape since he probably can’t do much as he recovers, but that’s why Pat Riley is one ruthless sonofabitch. You think he cares? I’m not sure the man even has a heart.
It’ll be interesting to see if they are able to get rid of his contract what that might mean for Jimmy Butler and maybe their ability to add more talent around him this summer. Maybe that’s all part of Riley’s pitch. Find your way to MIA, we’ll shed this dead weight, and use that money to bring in whoever you want. Kyrie? Boogie? Durant? Who knows.
In the meantime, let us all have a moment of silence for what might be the end of the Dion Waiters Era in South Beach