Meet Lindy Waters III, the newest Warrior; GSW sends OKC 2024 pick #52
Slater says GSW will keep him; team must decide by Saturday whether to exercise $2.2M team option
The trade news
From The Oklahoman:
The OKC Thunder is reportedly trading Lindy Waters III to Golden State on Thursday in exchange for the No. 52 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The Athletic's Shams Charania first reported the deal. Waters is a former Norman North and OSU standout who spent the past three seasons with OKC.
The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 3.6 points and 1.1 rebounds in 7.4 minutes this past season while shooting a career-high 43.5% from deep. Waters also helped the OKC Blue, the Thunder's G League affiliate, win its first championship.
It's a notable accomplishment for Waters, who briefly played for the The Basketball League's Enid Outlaws after he graduated from OSU and worked his way into the NBA.
Waters has a team option of $2.2 million for next season with a deadline set for Saturday. The Athletic's Anthony Slater reported that Golden State plans to keep Waters past the guarantee date, and it likes him "as a deep rotation option."
This is the second trade OKC has made during the NBA Draft, which will hold its second round at 3 p.m. Thursday. After selecting Serbia's Nikola Topic with the No. 12 overall pick on Wednesday, OKC sent five future second-round picks to New York to select Weber State's Dillon Jones with the No. 26 pick.
The micro scouting report
In brief, Waters looks like a 3-and-D type big guard / wing. Plays off-ball, shoots well from 3 and not afraid to shoot. Defense statistically is not great. Seems like a great guy off the court, dedicated to many Native American causes.
Lindy Waters III (born July 28, 1997) is a Kiowa American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named a finalist for the NBA 2023-24 Social Justice Champion Award for the work his foundation does to support Native American youth through sports, health and wellness.[1]
Waters is an enrolled member of the Kiowa tribe, he is also of Cherokee descent.[9]
Basketball Reference (NBA)
Lindy Waters III ▪ Twitter: LindyWatersIII
Position: Shooting Guard ▪ Shoots: Right
6-6, 215lb (198cm, 97kg)
College: Oklahoma State
NBA Debut: February 11, 2022
Experience: 3 years
In 1276 career pro minutes, shot 37.7% 3P, 58.7% TS on a whopping 11.1 3PA per 36 min.
Has absolutely torched the G-League with lights out shooting over a big sample size (43.0% 3P, 93.8% FT career)
On very small sample size, last year shot 65.2% TS (93rd percentile) and 43.5% 3P (97th percentile).
EPM rated him +0.2 on offense (74th percentile) and -1.7 on defense (14th percentile)
More fun with small sample sizes, from BBall-Index.com:
Scouting reports on all the new guys in a new thread: https://open.substack.com/pub/dubnation/p/meet-all-the-new-warriors-quinten?r=3lm3s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Reminder: Draft spoilers are ENCOURAGED in this thread.
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