Why Native American Heritage Powers the Latest Warrior Waters III originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Sitting poolside during a family vacation in Mexico, Lindy Waters III discovered his life was about to change on the morning of the second day of the 2024 NBA Draft. Born in Norman, Okla., the 26-year-old has only ever known the Sooner State.
That changed a week ago, on June 27, when Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy sent the Warriors’ second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire the shooting guard who can shine behind the 3-point line.
“I wasn’t really surprised, but it took me a little while to process it,” Waters told reporters Wednesday at Chase Center. “This is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this. I’m thankful I had my family with me.”
Waters grew up with Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young and starred together at Norman North High School. While Young became a top draft pick in his one 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 during a tryout.
In February 2022, he then signed a two-way contract with his hometown team, where Waters played the past three seasons, ranging from the G League to the NBA.
“It’s pretty crazy to come from my home state and go through pretty much every town in Oklahoma and make it to the big leagues,” Waters said. “That alone gives me confidence that I can take my talents anywhere and be successful.”
All the trials and tribulations he endured in Oklahoma have led Waters to this point. But his true guiding light comes from Waters’ legacy, which he is extremely proud of and will now represent in the Bay Area.
Waters is an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe, headquartered in Carnegie, Okla. He is also a member of the Cherokee Nation. Oklahoma has the largest Cherokee population in America—extending into 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 extends beyond any one state.
“It means everything to me,” Waters said. “There’s not a lot of people who can do something like this where I’m from. And I know I have a huge impact on my community. Especially being from Oklahoma, I see a lot of people who look just like me. So I try to be an inspiration to them, try to do the right thing and keep showing 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 empower and support Native American youth and indigenous communities through sports, leadership programs, and health and wellness. Waters runs a golf tournament in Tulsa that awards scholarships, and also runs basketball camps for kids in North Dakota, North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Waters even has a basketball tournament planned for his birthday, July 28, where he will give out scholarships to kids going to college, and he says 10 or 11 were given out last year. An Intertribal Council named Waters its “Indian of the Year” in 2018. He was nominated for the NBA’s 2023-24 Social Justice Champion Award, and in March, Waters was inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.
“There are more important things in life than what we see on TV,” Waters says. “There’s family, there’s traditions, there’s culture. The materialistic things come and go. You can never control those things. But what you can control is how good you are as a person.
“I think being with my family, relatives and tribes and trying to give back to the community has shaped me into the person I am today and that just translates to the basketball court.”
Bringing the Chase Center crowd to its feet with a deep 3-pointer is a rush Waters is eager to experience. The real work comes off the court, and Waters knows he’s far from done there, striving to continue making his people proud.
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