Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dion Waiters likely won't be traded, thanks to superstar LeBron James. The four-time MVP reportedly indicated to Waiters he wants the third-year guard to remain in Cleveland, something the Cavaliers front office will certainly heed.
Waiters routinely has been the subject of trade rumors since entering the league in 2012. Those rumors, though, appear to be over. Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer described Waiters's account of a phone call with James, whom Waiters said told him to "be ready" for the 2014-15 season.
Per Sielski:
"James had not yet announced that he had decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. So he was coy in his brief conversation with Waiters, who grew up in South Philadelphia and has been the Cavs' starting shooting guard since they drafted him fourth overall out of Syracuse in 2012. 'He never gave me a clear-cut answer,' Waiters said, but then, he didn't need to."
James likely sees Waiters - 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds - as a younger version of former teammate Dwyane Wade, at least in terms of physical size and playing style. Sielski reported Waiters has been studying tape of Wade to see how the future Hall of Famer re-shaped his game to play beside James in Miami.
"When I get the opportunity to get the ball, I've got to destroy my opponent," Waiters told the Inquirer. "The rest of the floor is going to be so wide open that, once I get by him, the rest of it should be easy."
The biggest strike against Waiters was his purported inability to get along with Kyrie Irving. With James now helming the team, however, any rift - it was supposedly over touches - between the two backcourt teammates is unlikely to last.
