Dion Waiters Celebrates Poorly Timed Trade By Chilling With Meek Mill

The Cavs bungled relaying the information of last night’s trade to Dion Waiters. The reserve guard found out he had been traded right before last night’s disappointing Cavs loss in Philadelphia with just a minute and thirty seconds remaining before tip-off and after he’d been announced as the starter. He was finally ushered back into the visitor’s locker room with the other players involved in the deal and told he had been traded to the Thunder. After finding out, he decided to chill with Meek Mill, as Mill showed off on his Instagram.

Waiters wasn’t told of his trade with much time to spare before the game started, by way of ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin:

…Waiters was left to chat with reporters before the game about how many tickets he had secured for friends and family coming to see him play in his home city (“Too many to count,” Waiters said). And he was left to go out on the court in his Cavs uniform and warm-up gear and wave to his people in the stands before the national anthem. And he was even left to be announced last in the starting lineup — his first start since the third game of the season — as a solid contingent of the Philly faithful cheered for their hometown son.

The timing was so off kilter, there was just 1:30 left on the clock before tipoff when word finally made its way to the Cavs’ bench about what was going down. Waiters, Amundson and Kirk were unceremoniously whisked off the court and back to the injury-free locker room, where they couldn’t possibly tweak an ankle or pull a hammy to mess things up.

The former Syracuse guard understands the NBA is a business like every other player, and he wasted little time thinking about what could have been. Instead, he went out with his friend Mill, as the rapper showed off on Instagram:

Did the Birdman hand rub talking 2 @waiters3 about #OKC @pmon215 in da cut

A photo posted by Meek Mill (@meekmill) on Jan 1, 2015 at 7:48pm PST

//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

They even did a little dancing…

Me @waiters3 @pmon215 on dem skates 2 that new shit!!!

A video posted by Meek Mill (@meekmill) on Jan 1, 2015 at 1:22am PST

//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

While the Cavs really wanted to unload Waiters — so much so they were willing to take on J.R. Smith, the Thunder are looking forward to his arrival.

“We are going to make him feel wanted,” Kevin Durant said while talking up the newest Thunder with Yahoo’s Marc J. Spears:

“I am not saying he’s James [Harden’s] replacement because we’re far past that,” Durant said. “But he can play, he can come off the bench for us and score and make plays. He is a really good player. A lot of people take him for granted, I think.

“He’s been around, and you hear things about him that are not true. But he can play basketball. He can come out here and be himself, which is aggressive, put pressure on the defense and make plays.”

[…]

“He’s a guy who has a lot of toughness,” Durant said. “Being from the East Coast, I know a lot about Philadelphia where he comes from, South Philly where he comes from. Those guys are tough. They play with an edge, and that’s what he needs here.

“I’m excited about Dion. I can’t wait to have him.”

So, pretty much the opposite of the Cavs. Brutal blow the Cavs handed Dion literally before he was set to start against the Sixers in front of his hometown fans. But he looks no worse for the wear while partying with Mill. That’ll happen when you’re traded from one contender to another.

(H/T Ananth Pandian)

What do you think?

Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.

×