The National Basketball Players Association is appealing Miami Heat shooting guard Dion Waiters' suspensions, the South Florida Sun Sentinel's Ira Winderman reports. Waiters, 27, was first suspended by the Heat for its season-opening game for “conduct detrimental to the team” and was later levied a 10-game suspension for a panic-attack episode on the team's plane brought on by consuming an edible.
The National Basketball Players Association has filed an appeal of Dion Waiters' 10-game suspension, source confirms to Sun Sentinel. At play is $830,000 in lost wages. It will not get him back on court sooner, with a 30-day notice filed. In interim, disputed amount in escrow.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) November 22, 2019
Waiters is seeking to recover over three-quarters of a million dollars in lost wages due to the combined 11 games of suspensions. The former fourth-overall pick out of Syracuse in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers first signed with Miami in 2016, but Waiters has not played a single full season with the Heat, only appearing in 120 games in three-plus seasons in South Beach.
Waiters will be eligible to return for the Heat in their December 1st road game against the Brooklyn Nets, although many believe the swingman has played his last game for Miami and the two parties will part ways soon—with the recent suspension appeal signaling a fractured relationship.
Winderman is also reporting that a contract bonus for appearing in 70 games—which could be on the line due to 11 games worth of suspensions—will not be part of Waiters' appeal with the NBPA.
The $1.2 million bonus lost for Waiters not appearing in at least 70 games this season is not part of either appeal. https://t.co/o1AltvMXPf
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) November 22, 2019
Last week Waiters attempted to clear up rumors that he's done with the Heat.
“I’m a competitor. Any time you work hard and you envision something a certain way and it’s not going as you planned and you see it, you know, you go back to the drawing board and you figure it out. That’s what it’s about – figuring it out,” Waiters said, via Scott Schild of Syracuse.com.
It's difficult to see the relationship between Waiters and Miami repair after this latest episode, especially given the rise of rookie guards Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro, and the Heat's sign-and-trade acquisition last summer of All-Star wing Jimmy Butler.