Since entering the league, all the brashness and swagger that accompanied him have threatened to turn Dion Waiters into a one-dimensional character. Who can forget the GIFs of him desperately trying to get LeBron to pass him the ball or his ongoing penchant for going rogue on offense that earned him the glorious nickname “Waiters Island?”
But as with any over-sized personality, they’re are multiple layers beneath the surface. Waiters himself revealed quite a bit about his personal life in an excellent piece in the Players’ Tribune last spring that covered his hardscrabble upbringing in Philly, which was marred by unthinkable personal tragedy.
An even more fully-developed portrait of Waiters emerged on Monday via a long-form profile by Rohan Nadkarni of SI.com. Waiters discussed everything from his teenage years as a fledgling hoops star, to his time playing alongside LeBron and Kevin Durant, to finally finding an NBA home with the Miami Heat. He also wasn’t shy about expressing his pride in the aforementioned Players’ Tribune piece.
Via SI.com:
“They got to put that in the hall of fame!” Dion says of his one-off blog, without a hint of humor. “They got to put that article in the hall of fame!”
Which hall of fame?
“The Players’ Tribune hall of fame!”
For a while there, it didn’t look like anyone would ever dethrone J.R. Smith as the crown prince of irrational confidence, but Waiters’ ascension over the years has been something to behold. He’s also backed it up. Waiters hit several game-winners for the Heat last season, most notably the buzzer-beating three-pointer that gave Miami a big mid-season win over the Warriors.
Despite ending in disappointment, the Heat had one of the most remarkable turnarounds for a single-season in NBA history last year. In the dampened East, they have their eyes set on a playoff return in 2018, and Waiters is a big part of that endeavor.
(SI.com)
