The Miami Heat have no room for Dion Waiters

The veteran and the Miami Heat should part ways.

Dion Waiters is back with the Miami Heat, but he still is on the outside looking in. He practiced with the team on Wednesday, but he will not travel with them to face the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.

To me, Dion Waiters is the odd man out right now for the Miami Heat. The team has gotten some great contributions from rookies like Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro. Many did not predict that the youth movement would start out as smoothly as it has for the Heat. The two rookies don’t even look like first-year players. They look like seasoned veterans, and have put a spark into this Miami Heat team.

The Miami Heat have found their dynamic duo

For their efforts, Nunn and Herro have averaged 21 and 16.3 points. One of the key assets of Waiters’s game is his ability to provide scoring. He is a volume shooter who used to be able to provide that spark off the bench. Now, that role is filled. Quite honestly, I don’t see where Waiters fits into this team at the moment. The whole situation is kind of fascinating. With the emergence of the rookies and the fact that Waiters’ tenure with the Heat has taken an unfortunate turn, it’s the perfect juxtaposition.

I will be interested to see what Miami does with him. They can’t really break up the rotation at the moment. Things are firing on all cylinders, and it will be stupid to jeopardize that. I could see him forcing his way out of Miami. Including this year, he has  two years left on his contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2021. Making a $13 million per season, the contract doesn’t exactly make him the easiest players to move. If anything, is a hindrance.

Waiters is the odd man out

As it stands right now, I don’t see where he fits on the Miami Heat. He is a good player and has done a lot for them. However, it would be too risky to break up the roster right now. Everybody seems to be jelling and meshing with each other. He would definitely be a bigger asset to another team. He could come back and be a solid rotation player, assuming they don’t change the way they’re doing things right now. However, I don’t see that happening. I think his days as a member of the Miami Heat are numbered, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a new uniform before the trade deadline. It would be best for both parties to move in a new direction.