Free Agency Diary 2017
Dion Waiters Agrees To Deal With Miami Heat
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated04 Oct 2023
The Miami Heat and free agent guard Dion Waiters have agreed to a four-year, $52 million deal, a league source told Basketball Insiders. The deal does not contain any options, Basketball Insiders has learned.
Waiters also received interest from the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls.
The Lakers made a one-year, $17 million dollar offer to Waiters, a league source told Basketball Insiders. New York and Chicago verbally expressed interest, but neither team made an offer.
The 25-year-old guard shot a career-best 40 percent from beyond the arc and also recorded career highs in minutes (30.1), assists (4.3) and rebounds (3.3) per game last season. Waiters averaged 15.8 points per game last season for Miami as the starting shooting guard.
Waiters, the fourth overall pick of the 2012 draft, publicly expressed his desire to remain with the Miami Heat dating back to the regular season.
Miami still has several free agency decisions to make. James Johnson, Willie Reed, and Luke Babbitt are unrestricted free agents on the market. In addition, the team also has to make a decision whether or not to guarantee Wayne Ellington’s $6.3 million salary by July 7.
For more information on Miami’s salary cap situation, click here.
Sources: Miami Heat and Dion Waiters are discussing a 4-year, $52 million deal.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) July 5, 2017
