Miami Heat shooting guard Dion Waiters was recently suspended for six games, marking the third time that he has been suspended this season. At the time the Heat announced the ban late last week, the organization cited Waiters' "failure to adhere to team policies, violation of team rules and continued insubordination."
According to Five Reasons Sports and The Miami Herald, the specific reason behind the suspension stems from Waiters' boneheaded social media activity while the team thought he was sick.
Per Five Reasons Sports:
According to three sources, it was inspired by an Instagram post of Waiters hanging out on a boat during a time when the team was made to believe he was unavailable because he was sick. Waiters’ Instagram account (@Waiters3), with more than 350,000 followers, is now private, and no such photo is currently still posted as a regular picture post or Instagram story. But apparently the Heat saw something that troubled them.
According to one source, on its own, this infraction may not have warranted such a lengthy suspension, but it’s due to the cumulative effect of all of Waiters’ distractions, cutting against the team’s valued “Culture” during what has been a less tolerance approach to the season.
The Heat signed Waiters to a four-year, $52 million extension in July of 2017, and he has appeared in a total of 74 games since then. The 28-year old veteran has not played this season, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that the organization is exploring every possible way to get him off the roster.