The Miami Heat have reportedly waived Drew Peterson and Alondes Williams as their roster for the 2023-24 season starts to come into focus.
OFFICIAL: The Miami HEAT have waived Drew Peterson and Alondes Williams.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) October 14, 2023
Both Peterson and Williams played in Miami’s last preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs.
Peterson shot just 1-for-5 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc in the game against San Antonio. He did add five rebounds in the game for Miami.
A rookie who played five years in college, Peterson spent two seasons at Rice University and three at the University of Southern California (USC). During his college career, he shot 35.8 percent from beyond the arc, and in the 2022-23 season, he averaged 13.9 points per game for the Trojans.
However, Peterson couldn’t showcase his strong shooting stroke in the preseason, and it’s possible that’s why Miami is waiving him.
Williams, who was the 2021-22 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, went undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft.
The young guard spent a chunk of the 2022-23 season with the Long Island Nets in the G League. He had a slightly better showing than Peterson in the matchup with San Antonio, scoring nine points on 4-for-8 shooting (1-for-4 from 3-point range) while adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
In college, Williams spent time at the University of Oklahoma, but he really took off after transferring to Wake Forest University. In 35 games for the Demon Deacons in the 2021-22 season, Williams averaged 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game while shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from beyond the arc.
He then appeared in 24 games (12 starts) with the G League Nets in the 2022-23 regular season, averaging 13.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
The Heat clearly weren’t sold on Williams or Peterson helping the team’s rotation after losing Max Strus and Gabe Vincent this offseason, but the young players may stick around with the team’s G League affiliate.
Williams and Peterson are still on track to be part of the Heat’s G League team this season unless another NBA team signs them to a two-way or standard contract or they choose not to play in the G League. https://t.co/D9mFfG9e7I
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) October 14, 2023
It will be interesting to see who Miami ends up keeping on the roster for the 2023-24 season. The Heat have three more preseason games remaining (against the Memphis Grizzlies, Brooklyn Nets and Houston Rockets) to see which players are the best fits for the roster.
