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NBA roundup: Injured Waiters explains anthem absence
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Cleveland Cavaliers guards Matthew Dellavedova and Dion Waiters continue to be out with injuries, and Waiters also tried to explain why he was absent for a national anthem.
Dellavedova is expected to miss four to six weeks after undergoing an MRI on his injured left knee, the team announced.
Waiters sustained a lower back contusion during the second quarter of Friday’s game at the Denver Nuggets. He is listed as questionable Monday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Waiters was the source of controversy when he was not present for the national anthem at Denver and attempted to clarify the issue Sunday — with little success.
Waiters, who is Muslim, was quoted by Northeast Ohio Newsgroup saying he wasn’t on the court for the national anthem because of his religion. On Sunday, he met with reporters and said it had nothing to do with religion or the fact that he was replaced for the first time in the starting lineup by Shawn Marion. He said he was misquoted, but then said he couldn’t recall if he cited religion in explaining his pregame no-show.
Waiters finally said he simply lost track of time in his typical pregame routine and accidentally was late getting back to the court.
–San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard attributed his early struggles to vision problems he is still experiencing from an eye infection.
Leonard has made only 12 of 39 shots since returning to the lineup. He said Saturday that his right eye still gets blurry at times and that it is likely affecting his shot.
Leonard missed time during the preseason and regular season because of the eye infection.
–The Boston Celtics assigned forward Dwight Powell to the Maine Red Claws of the NBA D-League, the team announced.
Powell, who is 6-foot-11, averaged 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds in 9.0 minutes over six preseason games.
–The Memphis Grizzlies waived guard Kalin Lucas, the team announced.
Lucas originally signed with the team on Sept. 25 and was waived on Oct. 25. The 25-year-old was re-signed on Nov. 4 and did not appear in any regular season games.
