Whiteside to miss Heat home opener, Waiters ‘feeling good’ about ankle

As I mentioned here earlier, Dion Waiters said that he tweaked his troublesome left ankle three times in the Miami Heat’s season opener Wednesday night. That’s the same ankle that caused Waiters to miss the final 13 games of the regular season and led him to consider surgery over the summer.

For a Miami Heat fan, seeing Waiters head back to the locker room in the third quarter to have the ankle re-taped may have been an inauspicious sign.

Not so, according to the man himself. Waiters said that his ankle feels good as he prepared for Miami’s home opener Saturday night. He is available to play tonight.

It’s good that Miami can count on Waiters to play tonight. Hassan Whiteside, who finished with 26 points and 22 rebounds in the Heat’s loss to the Orlando Magic Wednesday, will not be available tonight. He is listed as day-to-day moving forward.

How will Whiteside’s injury affect Erik Spoelstra’s rotation? Will we see Bam Adebayo give the Heat a spark? Will Waiters look better than his uneven performance Wednesday night? We’ll have to see tonight.