What Waters III represents to NBA in first season with Warriors

[ad_1]

What Waters III represents to NBA in first season with Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – As difficult as it is for an athlete to reach the NBA, that in many ways is light work if that athlete knows he’s carrying the dreams of a nation.

Or, really, several nations.

As a member of the Golden State Warriors, Lindy Waters III spends many waking hours preparing for or playing in NBA games. Talent has taken the 6-foot-6 guard to the highest level of international basketball, and he represents the team every time he steps onto the floor.

For each of the 168 hours that comprise a week, Waters represents the nations of the Kiowa (KAI-uh-wuh) and Cherokee. He is one of three indigenous NBA players, along with Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving and Milwaukee Bucks forward MarJon Beauchamp. They have different tribes of origin, but there is unity in carrying the flag of their forefathers and the aggrieved history of displacement.

“It fuels me every single day knowing that these times now are so much easier than what they had to go through,” Waters said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s ‘Dubs Talk’ podcast. “I’m not going to let any little adversity that comes into my life effect anything. I’m going to keep pushing. I’m going to keep pressing on. And I’m going to keep fighting.

“I don’t like to compare exactly our circumstances because I can never be in their shoes, and I can never feel what they felt. But I know that I can continue to fight for what they fought for.”

Cursory knowledge of American history tells us that the land occupied by indigenous peoples was subjected to a hostile takeover from incoming white settlers. War was common, and the tribes were both outnumbered and lacked the sophisticated weaponry of their invaders.

The Kiowa tribe originated in Canada, British Columbia to be precise, before migrating south in the 17th century through Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. They were part of the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867, according to kiowatribe.org, but wound up at war with white settlers. Reservation land was opened for white settlement early in…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/waters-iii-represents-nba-first-155901082.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-12-31 15:59:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.