CLEVELAND -- Dion Waiters says he hasn’t told anyone he wants to part ways with the Cavaliers.
The second-year guard did admit, however, that he’s a little tired of being the center of trade rumors.
“Yeah, man. Dion this. Dion that. You know,” he said while smiling in the Cavs’ locker room prior to Tuesday’s game vs. Portland.
“At the end of the day, there's nothing I can do. They keep coming up with these stories that I have no idea about. But they're got to write about something. I don't know why Dion's the topic of the conversation every time.”
Bleacher Report cited sources in a story earlier Tuesday that indicated Waiters wanted out of Cleveland. His name also was the main topic in early-season reports involving a supposedly confrontational team meeting.
“Why would I do that? It makes no sense,” Waiters said on the latest report. “This is the team that drafted me. People come up with their own things, man. I was sleeping. I wake up. … it's crazy when you wake up and you see all this stuff. At the end of the day, I know what I said, what I didn't say. That's one of the things I absolutely never said. It is what it is, man. They can keep talking. I know I didn't say it.”
Waiters is averaging 14.4 points on 42 percent shooting. He has come off the bench in each of the last seven games (leading up to Tuesday). The Cavs won five of those.
“I'm happy. I'm comfortable,” he said. “I got a nice pool table, been playing pool. I don't know what's going on. It is what it is.”
On the bright side, Waiters at least knows what to expect when these rumors pop up.
“You know it's going to come,” he said. “Everybody's going to send it to you and ask what's going on. They get it before you. I'm asleep. I don't know what's going on. My phone's blowing up. The way my phone was going crazy, I thought I got traded. They come up with these stories and it ain't true. Let 'em keep writing. … As long as we’re winning, nothing else matters.”
