Dion Waiters drew laughs from NBA fans once upon a time. Fans didn't understand his propensity to shoot errant shots, or his insistent need to always have the ball in his hands, or the reason why he seemed to be a highly-touted bust, moving from city to city with no end in sight. He may have finally found a home with the Miami Heat this season. He also opened up for the first time in his career in a post for the Players' Tribune.

Writing articles, not playing ball

The aptly-named title of Waiters' article for the Players' Tribune is "The NBA Is Lucky I'm Home Doing Damn Articles." In the piece, the guard touched on some of the tragedy that impacted his life.

His mom and dad were both shot before he turned 12 years old. He talked about how growing up in Philadelphia, and how that filled him with confidence and drive to get out of his situation and how he used his childhood as fuel to push himself to the NBA.

There were lighter sides of the Players' Tribune article too. He discussed how important skating was during his Philadelphia youth. Philly cheesesteaks came up. So did a girlfriend his three-year old son seemed to snag in Miami. And an affirmation that Waiters believes he's the best player in the NBA. The whole article is a fascinating peak at a player whose exuberant style of play on the court tended to do more talking for him than his commentary off of it.

Still waiting on his moment

In the Players' Tribune article, Waiters mentioned that teams were lucky they wouldn't have to deal with the Heat in the playoffs this season. The Heat finished with a 41-41 record following a horrendous start to the season, but finished just outside of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.

Despite missing the playoffs, there is a lot of promise for what next season could bring for one of the NBA's most illustrious franchises.

Whether or not Waiters will be there to see it remains to be seen. The guard missed the end of the season with an ankle injury and is scheduled to hit free agency this summer. At times, he seemed to be the best player on the Heat this season, knocking down memorable buzzer-beaters and going on other-worldly scoring binges.

Heat president Pat Riley can be unforgiving in free agency if people don't acquiesce to his negotiations, though, so Waiters could still find himself looking for his fourth team this summer. He can write an article in the Players' Tribune about it, perhaps.