Heat Need to Cut Dion Waiters After He Called Out Erik Spoelstra and Tyler Herro on Instagram
In case it wasn't obvious already, Miami Heat shooting guard Dion Waiters is proving to be more trouble than he's worth.
After coming into camp last season overweight and injured, Miami was looking for a bounce-back season for Waiters.
Well, it definitely hasn't started that way, as the 27-year-old was suspended for the season opener by the team for apparently having a meltdown on the bench in their final preseason game.
Pat Riley on Dion Waiters' suspension: “There were a number of unacceptable incidents this week, culminating with his unprofessional conduct on the bench last night. As a consequence, I feel we had to suspend him.”
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) October 20, 2019
There was speculation that Waiters was upset about possibly coming off the bench behind rookie Tyler Herro, and his comments on Instagram on Friday certainly don't suggest otherwise.
Dion saying Spo only won because of LeBron & Wade, laughing at idea of Tyler Herro being better than him and ‘liking’ comments about waiving/trading him.
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 20, 2019
HAPPY NBA SEASON!!!!!
(Via @HeatvsHaters IG) pic.twitter.com/PAwF2Bc2am
Waiters also took a shot at coach Erik Spoelstra, saying he only won championships because LeBron and Dwyane Wade were on the team. He even liked some of the comments that advocated to waive or trade him.
There's no doubt the Heat would love to ship Waiters off to some other team, but apparently nobody wants him.
Dion Waiters has been on the trade block for roughly a year now with no teams interested, per @SeanDeveney.
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) October 21, 2019
With Miami developing a bit of a logjam on the wing, following the emergence of Herro and Kendrick Nunn, who scored 40 points in a game this preseason, perhaps Waiters is becoming the odd-man out.
He was the 10th player off the bench in the Heat's final preseason game, and if that's the role he'll be taking on in the regular season, you should fully expect him to voice his displeasure.
It's certainly not an easy decision to make, but it may be time to simply cut the veteran and move on, as he's becoming more a locker room parasite than valuable asset.