The future of Dion Waiters in Cleveland appears to be ending sooner rather than later. The shooting guard first lost his starting spot to Matthew Dellavedova after an unimpressive start where he was shooting just 39.9 percent overall this season. As trade rumors begin to swirl, Waiters is getting frustrated with his teammates.
ESPN's Chris Broussard confirmed that the Cavaliers are indeed shopping the shooting guard to interested teams. Why would Cleveland be looking to trade Waiters this early? Apparently things came to blows in a team meeting when Waiters accused Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson of playing "buddy ball" and never passing the ball to him. Thompson and Waiters went back and forth in a verbal argument that reportedly got very heated. Waiters called on a double standard taking place with the Cavaliers, saying the team favors Irving over everyone.
Clearly Waiters has never watched a Miami Heat game or the old Chicago Bulls games. The face of the franchise is certainly treated differently than the other players and it happens on every team. Irving is the guy the Cavaliers intend to build upon and Thompson is an excellent rotational player that compliments the star well. Of course LeBron James and Michael Jordan get and got preferential treatment, they run the frachises.
So with the drama comes trade rumors and the Cavaliers are targeting three different teams in a potential deal. Cleveland has spoken with the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Chicago Bulls about putting together any kind of deal. Iman Shumpert, Evan Turner and Luol Deng are the players being packaged, three stars that have been mentioned in many deals in the past.
The Cavaliers are currently sitting at 4-11 in what has been a rather disappointing start for the team. If sources are correct about dysfunction in the locker room, Waiters will be sent packing as soon as possible.
"It's just nonsense," Waiters said, via ESPN.com. "There's been things thrown out there that haven't been true at all."
Waiters is not demanding a trade from the team despite the locker room spats, but Broussard reports that he is open to a move if that is what team officials opt to do. Head coach Mike Brown and general manager Chris Grant have discussed the possibilities with the young player and a trade can be expected to be executed quickly.
