HEADLINE

Heat cite ‘conduct,’ suspend Waiters for season opener

Field Level Media

October 20, 2019 at 4:24 am.

The Miami Heat’s Dion Waiters has been suspended for one game – Wednesday’s season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies — for conduct detrimental to the team and will be allowed to return on Thursday, the team announced Saturday night.

“There were a number of unacceptable incidents this week, culminating with his unprofessional conduct on the bench last night,” said Heat president Pat Riley. “As a consequence, I feel we had to suspend him.”

Miami played its final preseason game Friday, a 144-133 loss to the Houston Rockets. Waiters scored two points off the bench in 10 minutes.

The combination small forward/shooting guard averaged 12 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season in 44 games with Miami.

The fourth pick in the 2012 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers has averaged 13.2 points on 41.2 percent shooting, with 2.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in his career.