The Miami Heat have suspended guard Dion Waiters for the third time this time for a “failure to adhere to team policies, violation of team rules and continued insubordination.”
Waiters will be out until the Heat play the Utah Jazz on December 23rd. Waiters was hit with a 10-game ban back in November for conduct detrimental to the team following an incident on the team’s charter flight where he experienced a “panic attack” after consuming an edible infused with THC.
Before that, Waiters was suspended for the season opener back in October for detrimental conduct, although the team never provided any further details to explain what specific conduct, or incident, led to the suspension.
Instead, Heat president Pat Riley simply stated: “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.”
Due to the suspension, Waiters has been docked over $1.4 million off his $12.1 million salary due this season. Waiters is currently in the third year of a four-year, $47.3 million contract that had incentives that could have paid him $5 million more for playing a certain number of games.