Dion Waiters returned to Cleveland Cavaliers practice on Monday after missing two games on the weekend with what the team said was an illness. The shooting guard, who is rumored to be losing his spot in the starting lineup, strongly denied that there was an a physical altercation in the players-only meeting that followed Cleveland's blowout loss in Minnesota last week, via Mary Schmitt-Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Dion Waiters denies physical altercation in Cavs’ players-only meeting
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dion Waiters returned to practice on Monday and addressed rumors about last week’s players-only meeting.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
“We men,” he said, talking with reporters for the first time since before the game at Minnesota. “Nobody got into no altercations or anything like that. We got everything off our chests that we needed to. That’s that. All the other rumors, man, are rumors. Don’t believe it. It’s not true. We talked. Everybody talked. Nobody put their hands on nobody. At the end of the day, we’re teammates. Like I said, I’d rather fight somebody else on the other team than one of my teammates. That’s the way it is. That’s the way I was brought up. I feel as though we say we’re family, then we’re a family and I’m going to look out for you to the best of my abilities. All the other stuff is foolishness.”
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the meeting was "contentious" and, when Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving arrived for their game on Friday sporting a broken nose and a black eye, it raised questions about what happened in that locker room.
Cleveland snapped a three-game losing streak on the strength of Irving's 41 points against the Washington Wizards on Saturday. The Cavs are 4-7 on the season. Head coach Mike Brown said that Waiters would be in the lineup when they meet the Wizards again on Wednesday, but he has not yet decided on a starting lineup.
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