Johnson sits

MIAMI — Heat guard Dion Waiters said Tuesday that his chronically sprained left ankle may not be right until after the season and could yet require surgery.

“Until I take care of it and do what I’m supposed to do with it,” he said in the locker room before his team faced the Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena, “even if I have the littlest sprain, it’s going to be like severe.”

Waiters, who missed the final 13 games of last season with a sprain to the same ankle and then reported lingering pain when he reported to training camp, aggravated the injury during Saturday night’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Had Waiters opted for offseason surgery, he was faced with missing the first half of this season. Instead, he bypassed that option and signed a four-year, $52 million free-agent contract with the Heat.

Tuesday, though, he that surgery might an eventual option.

“It plays in my mind, but there’s nothing I can do now,” he said. “I’m already playing.

“At this point, you got to see what’s best. But I won’t write it off … especially if I’m going to keep going through the same thing, even with like little tweaks and things like that.

“When the season is over, after the playoffs and things like that, I’ll sit acknowledged have to be The goal with the Heat’s approach with injuries has been to avoid taking