MIAMI -- The Miami Heat announced Friday that they have re-signed guard Dion Waiters. As per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Dion Waiters proved to us last season that we have found one of the best two guards in the NBA and we are happy today to be able to sign Dion to a long-term contract," said Heat President Pat Riley. "We love his game and competiveness. He is an attacker and an excellent three-point shooter as well as a defender. He is a player that has no fear in taking the last shot regardless of the outcome. We believe that continuity has shown to be one of the important things that we do by keeping a team together. Having Dion back in the fold is a big factor in keeping that team chemistry together."
Last season, Waiters appeared in 46 games (43 starts), helping Miami to a 27-19 (.587) record in those games. He averaged 15.8 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 30.1 minutes while shooting 42.4 percent from the field and a career-high 39.5 percent from three-point range. He tied his career-high of 33 points vs. Golden State on January 23 while also tying his career-high of 13 made field goals in a game in which he hit the game-winning three-point basket to help defeat the Warriors, 105-102. He scored at least 17 points in eight consecutive games from January 21 through February 4, marking the second-longest such streak of his career. Waiters, who was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week on January 30, led the Heat in scoring 12 times, in assists 14 times, in steals on 13 occasions, in minutes 12 times and in plus/minus on eight occasions while recording 16 20-point games, including two 30-point performances, on the year.
Waiters has appeared in 335 regular season games (153 starts) during his five-year career averaging 13.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.00 steals and 28.6 minutes while shooting 41.3 percent from the floor and 34.6 percent from three-point range.
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