Dion Waiters Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery on Ankle Injury

On Tuesday, the Miami Heat announced guard Dion Waiters underwent surgery and will be out for the remainder of the 2017-18 season. 

The surgery, which was performed Monday in California, addressed instability in his left ankle and a preexisting navicular bone fracture.

Waiters hasn't played since a Dec. 22 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

The Syracuse product played just 46 games last season—his first with the Heat—thanks to ankle injuries. While he struggled to stay on the court, he thrived when healthy and tallied 15.8 points, 4.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game behind 42.4 percent shooting from the field and 39.5 percent shooting from behind the arc.

As a result, the Heat signed him to a four-year deal during the offseason.

The first of those years will be cut short at just 30 games following this news. Waiters' shooting had fallen off some this season at 39.8 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from three-point range, but he was still averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds a night.

Miami, which sits in the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference at 27-20, will need to rely on the combination of Derrick Jones, Josh Richardson, Wayne Ellington and Justise Winslow on the wing during its push for the playoffs with a Waiters return no longer on the table.