Syracuse Basketball: Dion Waiters gets dealt at NBA Trade Deadline
Former Syracuse basketball stud Dion Waiters got dealt ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline. Here are all the details and what it means for his future.
Dion Waiters is taking his talents to Memphis.
The former Syracuse basketball stud was included in a six-player trade between the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzlies ahead of Thursday’s NBA Trade Deadline.
The Heat sent Justise Winslow, James Johnson, and the aforementioned Waters to the Grizzlies in exchange for Solomon Hill, Jae Crowder, and former NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
On top of the trade, Iggy has also agreed to a two-year contract extension that’ll pay him $30 million (the second year of the deal is a team option).
This ends what amounted to be a tumultuous tenure for Dion Waiters in Miami.
Back in July of 2016, Waiters signed a prove-it deal with the Heat and after a breakout campaign in 2016-17, he signed a lucrative long-term deal that paid him $52 million over four years.
While things on the surface looked great, it all came to a crashing halt in 2019.
Dion only played in three games for Miami this season following three separate suspensions. One of those included Waiters taking “cannabis-infused gummies” on the team plane. Once the flight landed in LA he required emergency medical attention.
With Waiters out of Miami, he now goes from the fourth-best team in the Eastern Conference (Miami) to a fringe playoff team in the Western Conference (Memphis).
He still has two years left on his contract that’ll pay him $12.1 million in 2019-20 and then another $12.6 million for the 2020-21 season.
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This will be Dion Waiters’ fourth different NBA team he’s been on since 2014-15. He started his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2.5 years), then ended up with the Oklahoma City Thunder (a year and a half), and then finally he’s been with the Miami Heat (3.5 years).