Why Native American Heritage Fuels Newest Warrior Waters III originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
Sitting by the pool on a family vacation in Mexico, Lindy Águas III He knew his life was about to change on the morning of the second day of 2024 NBA Draft. Born in Norman, Oklahoma, all the 26-year-old has known is the Sooner State.
That changed a week ago, June 27, when Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy sent the Warriors’ second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for acquire the shooting guard who can light it from behind the 3-point line.
“I wasn’t really surprised, but it took me a while to process,” Waters told reporters Wednesday at Chase Center. “This is the first time I have experienced something like this. I’m grateful to have my family with me.”
Waters grew up playing with Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young and starred together at Norman North High School. While Young became a top pick in his only season at Oklahoma, Waters played four years at Young’s rival Oklahoma State.
After going undrafted, Waters’ long journey to where he is now began in The Basketball League for the Enid Outlaws in Oklahoma. Six months later, Waters was signed by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s G League affiliate, the OKC Blue, after impressing the organization in a tryout.
In February 2022, he signed a two-way contract with his hometown team, where Waters spent the last three seasons between the G League and the NBA.
“It’s crazy, coming from where I come from, to be able to go through pretty much every city in Oklahoma and then make it to the big leagues,” Waters said. “That alone gives me the confidence to know that I can handle my talents anywhere and be successful.”
All the trials and tribulations he went through in Oklahoma guided Waters here. But his true guides come from Waters’ heritage, which he is extremely proud of and which he will now represent in the Bay Area.
Waters is an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe, based in Carnegie, Oklahoma. He is also part of the Kiowa Tribe. the Cherokee nation. Oklahoma has the largest Cherokee population in America – extending into the surrounding areas of Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri – followed by California.
As one of the few citizens of a Native American tribe to make it to the NBA, Waters’ pride in his people goes beyond that of any state.
“It means everything to me,” Waters said. “There aren’t many people capable of doing something like this, coming from where I come from. , I see a lot of people who look like me, so I’m trying to be an inspiration to them, trying to do the right thing and continuing to show them that these things are possible.”
The same year that Waters made his NBA debut in 2022, he founded the Lindy Waters III Foundation, which aims to enhance and support Native American youth and indigenous communities through sports, leadership, and health and wellness programs. Waters has a golf tournament in Tulsa that offers scholarships and also runs basketball camps for kids in North Dakota, North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Waters still has a basketball tournament scheduled for his birthday, July 28, where he will give scholarships to college-bound kids, and says 10 or 11 were awarded last year. An Intertribal Council named Waters the “Indian of the Year” in 2018. He was named a finalist for the 2023-24 NBA Social Justice Champion Award, and in March, Waters was inducted into the North American Indian Athletics Hall of Fame.
“There are more important things in life than what we see on TV,” says Waters. “There is family, there are traditions, there is culture. Materialistic things come and go. You can never control these things. But the things you can control are how good a person you are.
“I think being around my family and relatives and tribes and trying to give back to my community, I think that’s shaped me into the person I am today and that just translates to the basketball court.”
Taking the Chase Center crowd off its feet with a deep 3-pointer is a run Waters is ready to try. The real work comes off the court, and Waters knows he’s far from done there, striving to continue making his people proud.
