According to a clause agreed upon between the Miami Heat and guard Dion Waiters, he would receive a $1.1 million bonus for suiting up for a minimum 70 games this season in addition to his four-year $52 million contract. There is no gray area in the agreement, only due to the fact that it cannot be added to his salary upfront because of salary cap implications. Waiters will have to be on the floor to earn his bonus money.
The season is just a month underway and two of the 12 games that Waiters can afford to miss are already taken due to the birth of his new baby daughter on Sunday. There are some things that take precedence over everything else, and his two-game absence was all about priorities.
Dion Waiters spoke with the Ira Winderman of the Sun-sentinel saying this was a priority for him, despite missing the team's road trip.
“I never thought about it. It's my daughter. It's hard, man. It's hard. But she's young. Right now, she doesn't understand. I feel like you can't control some of those things. I was there for the most important part, just being there while she was born. She's young right now. She doesn't know what's going on. I know she probably misses my voice. I talk to her every five minutes.”
The 6'5″ guard agreed to the clause which was more about concerns for his health than it was for personal reasons. It was to give him the motivation to keep in shape and take care of his body enough to be there when his teammates needed him most.
When the Heat traded for Dion Waiters, they had a poor record and was far out of the playoff picture, but with his help the team went on a 13-game winning streak, narrowly missing the postseason to a tiebreaker as the guard missed the last remaining games with an ankle injury.
That's not to say that the 25-year-old is overly concerned about money only. But when the time comes, he will make the best decision for himself, regardless of what kind of money is at stake.
“I'm good with my money. I save my money. I don't care about that. If I've got to sit out, I'm going to sit out. At the end of the day, if it's something serious, I'm not going to put myself in harm's way. I'm going to sit out. My body is more important.
I don't care about money. It's good to have for security, for your family, and I did that. So if it's an injury, something I know I've got to sit this one out, I'm not putting myself in harm's way.”
Understandably so, the bonus is only 1 percent of his overall salary, and with his pay checks averaging around $58,000 per day, the bonus is only a small factor this season.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra knows the value of his players and is as much concerned for their well-being knowing how important it is that they're all healthy by the end of the year.
“An injury is an injury. So the most important thing is a player's health, and then, secondly, the team — can a player be out there and be productive and not have his body be an issue?”
As Dion Waiters rejoins the Heat on Sunday, he's fully aware of his responsibilities and only needs to remain on the same path he was already on.
Spoelstra is also an advocate of being in the best shape possible and believes that Waiters' commitment to conditioning will all but eliminate many issues that could hinder him.
“He's put a lot of time in on his body. He's spending more time proactively than he ever has before in his career. There's a lot of things you can't control, but the ones that you can, getting your body, your core and your hips strong, he's taken that to heart and he's been more diligent this year.”
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