Meet Dion Waiters: A guy with talent but enough baggage to put Gucci out of business.
The Los Angeles Lakers are taking a huge risk bringing Dion Waiters into the fold. For what reason based on what he has accomplished in his career is really unknown. He really hasn’t done too much outside of his performance in the Rising Stars Duel with Tim Hardaway Jr.
The only reason Dion Waiters has a legitimate shot with the Lakers in any capacity is as follows.
- Rich Paul is his agent (Isn’t he LeBron’s agent too?) as a Klutch Sports client.
- Before Klutch Sports, Rob Pelinka had him as a client.
These are the only two reasons why the Lakers would even consider bringing in a guy to interrupt the chemistry of the best team in the Western Conference.
Here’s what the media will feed to you to justify this guy.
At his best, Dion Waiters is exactly what the Lakers need. A player that does not need LeBron James to create shots for him, and relieve some of the stress on the second unit when James is not on the floor. Not only that, Waiters is just as capable as any of the backup guards playing the pick and roll.
Okay, now let’s deal with reality.
Has anybody read the news lately about Dion Waiters? Does anyone remember when he was essentially kicked off the team for eating some type of edible (A THC-infused edible called “Gummies”) that caused him to have a seizure on the team plane?
It would be shocking if the Lakers didn’t know about it considering the team was traveling to play them at the Staples Center. Here’s how much of a headache Dion Waiters was for the Heat franchise.
Before 2020, Waiters had already been suspended by the Miami Heat three times this season for a total of 23 games. That feat had happened only one other time in the last 15 years.
The other player at least had his suspensions spread out. Dion’s suspensions were done before the holidays. So many “experts believe Dion Waiters can help a team that was suspended for three different violations.
- “Continued insubordination”
- “Failure to adhere to team policies”
- “Violation of team rules”.
The final straw for Waiters was when he called out of practice sick only to post a video of himself celebrating his birthday on a yacht on Instagram. But media reports believe that Dion Waiters is that missing piece for a championship contender.
Rob Pelinka now has some competition for the “NBA Executive of the Year” award. He happens to be Heat President Pat Riley, who dumped Waiters on the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies made it clear they didn’t want him anywhere near their young players especially Ja Morant.
Think about it, there was no way he was going to break that rotation in Memphis. The Grizzlies are going to pay the final two years and $24.75 million of the four-year, $52 million contract Waiters signed in 2017 to go away.