Dion Waiters reaffirmed his commitment to resign with the Miami Heat this summer during a local radio interview on Friday.
Waiters discussed his upcoming free agency on WQAM and emphasized that he does not want to stretch out the process of signing with the Heat:
“I want to be there (Miami),” Waiters said. “When that time comes and we sit down, we just got to make it happen. Let’s get it over with as quick as possible.”
The Philadelphia native earned $2.9 million dollars this past season and has a player option of $3 million for next year, but he is expected to opt out. Waiters had the best season of his short five-year career this year, averaging 15.8 points and 4.3 assists and could earn much more than the $3 million player option in the free-agency market.
“I think I’ll be back,” Waiters said. “We just got to make it work and hopefully everything can come together full circle.”
One part of Heat “culture” that the Syracuse University product has implemented into his workouts this offseason is the rigorous training that Miami has become known for. In this video he posted, Waiters is seen wearing Heat apparel during workouts.
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https://twitter.com/Heat_Reddit/status/864909732066316289
In the interview, Waiters even spoke about the impact of buying into the Heat’s culture and how it helped transform his body:
“The things that they preach to us and really speaking it into existence, and being able to really buy in and see the results,” Waiters said. “I think once you start seeing the results, you start to trust the process more. That was my whole thing. My thing was about seeing the results. When I listen and I’m locked in, you see the results. And as far as my body, just being able to maintain the weight that I lost to help my play was huge for me.”
The Heat are expected to have around $38 million dollars in cap space to work with this offseason (once they get Chris Bosh’s contract off the books). Hopefully, the Heat front office and Waiters can reach an agreement so “Philly Cheese” can play another season in South Beach.
“I’m in the best shape of my life,” he said. “Philly Cheese (is) coming back stronger and better than ever.”
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