When Dion Waiters nailed a game-winning three-pointer over Klay Thompson in the Miami Heat’s 105-102 win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday, he gave his ex-teammate Kevin Durant a little something extra after the go-ahead bucket.
Kevin Durant jokes that it ‘f**king sucked’ to watch Dion Waiters sink game-winning 3
Durant said he and Waiters made each other better as teammates in Oklahoma City.
“Nah, he gave me a little wink after he hit that three,” Durant said with a smile. “F****g sucked to see that go through the rim, but that’s a big brother to me kind of. [I] can smile at that one after the game was over. He played great.”
Durant and Waiters were teammates for one and a half seasons in Oklahoma City after the Thunder acquired him via trade from Cleveland in the 2014-15 season. The former league MVP said he and Waiters formed a brotherly bond during his time with OKC.
“As soon as he got to OKC, I was the first one to kind of greet him,” Durant said. “I wrapped my arm around him early. So we had a nice bond. Every road trip we were together. We had a nice bond. Big brother, little brother relationship, man.”
Their relationship included a brotherly sequence in Game 2 of last season’s Thunder-Warriors Western Conference Finals matchup, where Durant cursed Waiters out for getting him the ball too late.
The 25-year-old Waiters posted his second consecutive 33-point game on Monday, torching the Warriors on 13-for-20 shooting, including 6 for 8 from downtown. On his game-winning shot, he folded his arms with a stone-faced look before screaming to the Miami crowd, “This is my city!”
After a down season with the Thunder averaging 9.8 points per game, Waiters has found life in Miami. His 14.6 points per game are the most he’s averaged since the 2013-14 season with Cleveland. Miami has won four straight games, including wins over Milwaukee and Houston, and Waiters’ aggressive play has been a part of the team’s winning streak.
Durant was happy to see his old running mate thriving in South Beach.
“We went back and forth all the time,” he conceded. “Both stubborn and hard-headed, but we made each other better. And you can see he’s getting better by the day. Two games in a row I think with 30-plus (points) and wins against good teams, so it’s huge for him.”
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