OKC Thunder End of Season Report Card: Lindy Waters III

The Oklahoma City Thunder season has come to a close and it is time to pass out the final grades this time to Lindy Waters III.

Apr 14, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Lindy Waters III (12) dribbles the ball down the court against the Dallas Mavericks during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports / Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder capped off a brilliant 2023-24 campaign with a 57-25 record that saw the Bricktown boys win their first playoff series since 2016. Despite falling in six games to the eventual Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks in the second round, the Thunder season could be described as nothing short of a success.

As the year concludes, it is time for our OKC Thunder End of the Year Report Card to cycle through every player on the roster to give them a final grade mark and project into the future. Today it's Lindy Waters III's final exam.

---

Season Report

The Oklahoma City Thunder have continued to play the same charade with Waters III the past three seasons, bringing in the hometown hero on a two-way pact before converting him to a standard deal midway through the season - a deal dubbed a multi-year deal with mechanisms to get out from the deal the following season.

As the OKC Thunder transformed into a 57-win ball club the minutes for Waters III drifted off logging action in just 38 contests posting 7.4 minutes per game while almost exclusively seeing action in garbage time.

Though, Waters III was pivotal in helping the OKC Blue capture their first NBA G League Championship. The Oklahoma State product truly improved as a defender and with the ball in his hands, though is lone true NBA skill remains his 3-point shooting which he has yet to hit at a high enough clip to justify.

Waters III by all accounts is a great teammate, has a really good story, and when you are discussing the final few roster spots is worthy of occupying one as a player who understands the system, has an NBA skill in case of injury and is integrated into the team identity already.

---

Grade: C, a typical season from him though not much to judge him in a positive or negative way at the NBA level.

---

What to improve on

Waters III has to become an actualized sharpshooter to stick in the NBA in the 2022-23 season on unguarded catch-and-shoot chances the forward only hit 33 percent of them well below average. Should he become truly automatic from beyond the arc with his improved defense the 26-year-old would carve out a longer NBA stretch.

---

Want to join the discussion? Like Inside the Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.