The National Basketball Players Association will go up to bat once again for suspended Miami Heat shooting guard Dion Waiters, much like they did for his previous two suspensions, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Waiters was suspended for opening night on Oct. 23 and then again for a 10-game suspension that ended on Nov. 29 before he received a six-game suspension recently in the wake of conduct detrimental to the team. This current appeal, which might not take place for months, is not aiming to get Waiters back into uniform, but rather to recoup part or all of the lost wages.
The 28-year-old has lost $83,500 for each of the games he has been suspended for and is in line to lose a whopping $1.42 million total if he's unable to recoup any salary for his 17 team-imposed absences. That is a salary equal to what rookie Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson are making this season.
The NBPA had the right to expedite these appeals for the last two latest suspensions, but bypassed the opportunity, limited in the number of times it can request to expedite these for its entire membership.
Waiters and the Heat could wind up reaching a settlement with help from the union, but the guard hasn't won himself any favors after the series of head-scratching decisions he has made this season.
The Philadelphia native is under contract for $12.1 million this season and $12.7 million the next as part of the final two years of the four-year, $52 million agreement after a career-best 2016-17 season.
Follow Us
Subscribe