NBA Rumors: Miami Heat’s Dion Waiters is officially out indefinitely with an ankle injury
Dion Waiters missed the last 13 games of last season with an ankle injury. He’s now battling a similar injury, which Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra maintains is not a continuation from last year’s ailment.
But, at least for the time being, the Heat plan on playing it safe with Waiters. The injury occurred in the team’s win Friday against the Dallas Mavericks. He missed the team’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night, and is expected to miss some more time.
According to the Ira Winderman Sun Sentinel, Waiters is “out indefinitely” and will be reevaluated every day according to Spoelstra.
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"[via Sun Sentinel]Dion Waiters formally was added to the Miami Heat’s injury report Saturday, with the starting shooting guard sidelined with the sprained left ankle sustained during the first quarter of Friday night’s loss to the visiting Dallas Mavericks.Coach Erik Spoelstra said before Saturday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans at AmericanAirlines Arena that there is no timetable for a return."
Waiters has had an up and down start to this season, and he certainly hasn’t been as effective as he was last season. In fact, for the past couple of weeks, the Heat have actually been better without him in the lineup.
When Waiters is on the floor this season, the Heat are eight points worse on the offensive side of the ball. The team, overall, also shoots nearly 40 percent worse.
It’s difficult to pinpoint to what exactly is the issue with Waiters; it could be that he’s been hurt or maybe there is something different in the offense. Something is up, though.
Waiters is shooting just 40 percent from the field this season and a porous 30 percent from 3-point range. In comparison, Waiters averaged 43 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range in what was considered the best year of his career last season.
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If the Miami Heat are going to make the playoffs this season – they are currently hovering around .500 – they’re going to need a big rebound from Dion Waiters when he returns from injury. Although, as we’ve seen through the first couple months of the season, that’s certainly not a given.