After spending the first decade-plus of his basketball journey in his home state, Lindy Waters III is traveling across the globe. He signed with the CBA's Beijing Ducks. After carving out a five-year run in the NBA, the 29-year-old goes elsewhere to continue his professional playing days.
Waters III had his start on the Oklahoma City Thunder. He spent three seasons there from 2021-24. In that time, he was mostly a two-way player. He also spent a significant chunk of it on the G League's OKC Blue. He turned into a nice developmental story. His outside jumper bought him several cups of NBA coffee.
Since then, Waters III has hopped around the NBA. He spent time with the Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs over the next two
seasons from 2024-26. He's averaged 4.6 points and shot 36.3% from 3 on 3.4 attempts in his time in the league.
Before that, Waters III played four collegiate seasons at Oklahoma State from 2016-20. He's about as local as you can get. He played high school ball at Norman and had a stint on the semi-pro Enid Outlaws before his G League tryout with the Thunder paid off.
Now, Waters III goes to the Chinese Basketball Association. The hope is that he can show out and eventually earn another NBA contract. If not, he can parlay that into an international career — if that's something he's interested in.
Shoutout Waters III, though. When the Thunder were in a rebuild at the start of the 2020s decade, he was one of the more fun stories to cover. He lived out the dream of being able to play for his hometown NBA team. And all things considered, he really maxed out his talent as an outside shooter.
Lindy Waters III is heading to China pic.twitter.com/qXv6ovfO68
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) September 15, 2026
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Former OKC Thunder Lindy Waters III heads overseas to play in China
