The Miami Heat are a team that typically deals with adversity well and quickly sorts out confusion. They may have met their match on this newest one though.
This past weekend was a very eventful one in Miami Heat Land. While the Heat dropped a tough road game to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, that isn’t even included on the list of top happenings that made it so eventful. Let’s start from the top, or at least, almost at the top.
The Miami Heat faced the Denver Nuggets last Tuesday as the first game of a three-game road trip that included the Phoenix Suns as the middle leg and the Lakers as the closing game. On the plane ride from Phoenix to Los Angeles, there was this little incident involving your friendly neighborhood Philly Cheese, or Dion Waiters. In case you hadn’t heard, he had an apparent THC induced incident on the flight from Arizona to California.
Dion Waiters had a panic attack on Heat team flight after taking an edible sources tell @wojespn and me: https://t.co/rfMHsNsnVa
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) November 10, 2019
While mum has been the word on specific details, the Miami Heat have somewhat addressed the topic as of now. Here is a statement that was given by the team on the incident per the Twitter account of the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson.
"We are very disappointed in Dion’s actions this season that include the very scary situation on Thursday night, and grateful that the outcome wasn’t worse. There have been a number of instances this season in which Dion has engaged in conduct detrimental to the team. Accordingly, he will be suspended without pay for 10 games, including the Lakers game last Friday, and will be eligible to return after the Golden State Warriors game on November 29th. We are proud of how our players have started the season. We expect all of our players, including Dion, to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards, and to show professionalism and respect for their teammates, the team, the fans, and the NBA community."
A very business-like and formal response from the Miami Heat organization, but would you expect anything less? The incidents and/or “actions” mentioned in the above statement from the organization definitely include his gripes about playing time, his social media shots at his teammates, the organization, and the coaches, and of course this latest incident as they mentioned.
While it is unclear as to exactly what his future holds, we do know that it won’t be on an NBA court until at least the 29th of November. After that, who knows what may happen with the situation, but here is a take or report from Shams Charania of The Athletic(subscription required) and Stadium sports network that provides more insight.
NBA Insider @ShamsCharania reports Dion Waiters will return to the Heat when his 10-game team suspension ends after “gummy” incident.
— Stadium (@Stadium) November 11, 2019
“There isn’t a buyout on the horizon … he has to get back into the good graces of the organization” pic.twitter.com/Hf2sITYa0h
This, again, is a very interesting report, but appropriate considering this is a very interesting time in Miami Heat Land. Whatever they decide to do, it needs to be swift, certain, and absolute.
Either he is going to be a valuable, productive, and supportive member of this team or he isn’t. With the way that they have gotten off to start the season, they don’t need any further distractions that may serve to prevent them from reaching the heights that they appear to be able to reach. Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra, and the rest of the Miami Heat must figure this situation out, no matter how “gummy” or sticky it appears to be.
(See what we did there)