Former No. 4 pick Dion Waiters is one of those NBA stories that makes fans scratch their heads. Once a top-15 high school recruit, Waiters came off the bench in his lone season at Syracuse, much to his surprise. When he declared for the NBA Draft, he looked like a sixth man with starting potential, landing with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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If the Cavs didn’t already have Kyrie Irving, who they selected first overall in the previous draft, history might have been different.
Instead, Waiters and Irving eventually engaged in a tug of war that led to a the two seeming to dislike each other, per The Athletic. The situation eventually reached a tipping point after a 30-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Nov. 2013, with renowned NBA.com reporter Sam Smith claiming that Waiters “beat up Kyrie Irving in a team meeting.”
Former Cavs Pick Dion Waiters Reveals Truth About Kyrie Irving Fight
“Never fought,” Waiters tells the Only The Trill Survive Podcast. “We never fought ever. He’ll tell you right now. We never fought ever. That’s my dog.”
Like we may not always see eye-to-eye when you’re on the court. You could be frustrated. You could be losing. It could be anything, bro. But me and bro never had a physical altercation, not one time.
I can put that on my life. On my kids you feel me.”
Waiters then goes on to explain what really transpired. Rather than Irving, it was Tristan Thompson who he ended up exchanging words with.
Thompson was selected fourth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft, just three picks behind Irving. On that fateful night against the Spurs, he had finished with five points, nine rebounds, and two assists after going 1-8 from the field.
“Me and Tristan argued,” Waiters explains. “Tristan Thompson, that’s my dog. That made us closer. It’s just frustration. You getting blown out by 30 (points). We competitive. We men. This is how we gonna feed our family.
So it’s like, we just called a team meeting. Things happened. I just had a lot of frustration and it just came out. I felt a lot better after it came out.”
Waiters didn’t go into much detail about what he said. However, given that he came off the bench in favor of Alonzo Gee and Matthew Dellavedova —two undrafted players —he may have had an opinion about his role. Especially as Gee went scoreless in 16 minutes that night while he put up 11 points in 20.
If so, it didn’t change much for Waiters, as he continued to come off the bench until Irving suffered an injury in March. However, once he reclaimed his starting spot, he didn’t look back. The Philadelphia native averaged 21.2 points and 4.2 assists per game on 45.7 percent shooting from the field through the end of the season.
It’s no wonder that LeBron James singled Waiters out as one of the players he wanted to help “elevate” when he returned to the Cavs.
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