Sophia Michaels
Dion Waiters appears to be on a George Costanza-like quest to get himself fired by the Miami Heat, but just can’t do quite enough things to be let go.
The shooting guard has been suspended for the third time this season and has yet to play in a game for the 19-7 Heat, who have been one of the league’s most pleasant surprises in his absence. His first suspension was just for the opener for “conduct detrimental to the team” after he posted some Instagram comments criticizing the team, his role, and most specifically coach Erik Spoelstra. He then was inactive for the start of the season before being suspended 10 games for the now infamous gummy incident on the team plane, where he had a panic attack after taking a gummy containing THC on a flight from Phoenix to L.A.
Now, Waiters is serving another six game suspension for what is officially being dubbed “failure to adhere to team policies, violation of team rules and continued insubordination.” However, as Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports Network reports, the latest suspension stems partially from an incident in which Waiters called in sick but posted since deleted pictures to his Instagram account of him on a boat.
According to three sources, it was inspired by an Instagram post of Waiters hanging out on a boat during a time when the team was made to believe he was unavailable because he was sick. Waiters’ Instagram account (@Waiters3), with more than 350,000 followers, is now private, and no such photo is currently still posted as a regular picture post or Instagram story. But apparently the Heat saw something that troubled them.
If he’s not traded soon, which Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports the Heat are trying desperately to find a way to move him, we can only hope he keeps escalating his acts of insubordination to the point where he ties the 2012 NBA Championship to the back of his car and drags it around the team facility parking lot.
[h/t CBS Sports]
Written by: Uproxx
