Heat Notes: White, Waiters, Richardson, Williams

Okaro White‘s new two-year deal with the Heat will feature a guaranteed prorated minimum salary for the rest of 2016/17, but the details of his 2017/18 salary are a little more complicated.

According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, White’s minimum salary ($1.3MM) for next season is currently non-guaranteed. However, he’ll get a 25% guarantee if he remains on the team through July 1, with another 25% becoming guaranteed on August 1. If White earns a spot on Miami’s opening-night roster, his full salary will become guaranteed.

Because he won’t have to wait until January for his full salary to become guaranteed, White is in a better spot than most players on similar deals — if the Heat don’t want to commit to his full salary, they’ll have to waive him in the summer, or by the start of the season, which would allow him more time to catch on with another club in the NBA or elsewhere.

Let’s round up a few more Heat-related notes…

• Dion Waiters, who has played a key role in the Heat’s current 11-game winning streak, isn’t certain whether he’ll be able to play in the club’s next game after spraining his left ankle, per Jackson. Meanwhile, another Heat player battling a foot injury, Josh Richardson, hopes to play at least once for the team before this month’s All-Star Game, Jackson writes.
• After being waived by the Heat on Monday, Derrick Williams sent out the following tweet: “Pat Riley is a man of his word. Ultimate respect.” According to Jackson (via Twitter), that message stemmed from the fact that Williams’ release was a mutual decision. The former second overall pick wanted a chance to get more minutes with another team, and the Heat were willing to give him that opportunity by cutting him rather than hanging on to him in an effort to find a trade partner.
• Within his latest mailbag, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel explores whether Goran Dragic might be the Heat’s point guard of the future, and discusses whether the club might get a chance to reunite with Briante Weber down the road.