The Miami Heat are off to a terrific start to the 2019-20 season, with a 6-3 record to put them in the conversation for being one of the East’s top teams at this early juncture.
They’ve done so without the services of Dion Waiters, who was suspended to start the year for “conduct detrimental to the team” and has not played yet. Waiters missed Friday’s game with the Lakers in L.A. due to an illness, officially, but there is apparently far more to the story than just that. On Friday, a report from Andy Slater emerged that claimed Waiters had “overdosed” on gummies and had a seizure on the plane, receiving medical attention when they landed in Los Angeles.
On Saturday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst confirmed that Waiters had indeed consumed an edible prior to the team’s flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles, but reported Waiters suffered from a panic attack on the plane, receiving medical attention when he got off. They do not mention anything as serious as a seizure or him passing out, as Slater’s initial report indicated, and the Miami Heat have not released any official comments on the matter.
Waiters apparently took the edible in an effort to soothe a stomachache, but then had a panic attack on the plane. Hopefully he is doing better and will be able to rejoin the team soon. As Woj and Windy note, products containing THC are considered banned substances by the NBA, but the league and Heat have not offered any statements on the Waiters situation.
