Lindy Waters III Another Developmental Success Story for OKC Thunder

The Thunder’s rebuild featured plenty of success stories, including one of the best to come from Oklahoma.

On Wednesday, Oklahoma City beat the Golden State Warriors 105-101 in San Francisco in the teams’ second meeting this season. While the teams matched earlier this month in Oklahoma City, this was the first time Lindy Waters got on the floor against his former team.

Waters started for the Warriors for the seventh straight game and struggled offensively, scoring four points on 1-of-7 shooting. Still, he impacted the game in other areas, getting six rebounds, a steal and a block.

Before slotting into the starting lineup in the Bay Area, Waters spent his first three NBA seasons in Oklahoma City. Being featured in just about every role imaginable, Waters’ impact won’t be forgotten by Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.

While he joined the team toward the end of the 2021-22 season, his most successful year was the 2022-23 campaign. With the Thunder fighting for a postseason appearance, Waters became a key player, forcing the Thunder to sign him to a standard contract to be eligible for the postseason.

“The Play-In year for our team, he was a rotation player on that team down the stretch of the season,” Daigneault said. “He was one of our nine guys that played really down the stretch and then through the Play-In. Steadily improved, was in rotating roles, including two-way, roster, in the rotation, out of the rotation. Just chewed it up and spit it out, never used it as an excuse, almost made him stronger mentally, and that was very impressive.”

Waters’ minutes decreased throughout last season as the Thunder’s talent and depth were too much for him to break through. While he still played spot minutes, Waters never had a significant role as the Thunder improved to 57 wins.

Still, Waters’ improvement from getting an opportunity in the G League in his second season out of college to becoming a regular starter for a potential playoff team is an example of the jump Oklahoma City hopes its players can make. While it took time for Waters to get to this point in his career, it was well worth the journey.

“It's something that we take pride in, and we're obviously wishing the best for him,” Daigneault said. “I don't know how he's doing, he's never lived outside of Oklahoma, so I have no idea. He's probably having sushi for the first time in his life.”

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