The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Dion Waiters fourth overall in the 2012 NBA Draft believing he'd be an ideal option off the bench if LeBron James returned in free agency, sources told The Athletic's Joe Vardon, Bill Oram, and Jason Lloyd.
The Cavaliers were so set on the Syracuse product they reportedly promised him he would be their selection at No. 4.
Waiters had a respectable start to his NBA career, averaging 14.7 points and three assists en route to a fifth-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting in 2012-13. He registered a career-high 15.9 points per contest the following season to finish second in team scoring.
James became Waiters' teammate in Cleveland after leaving the Miami Heat as a free agent in 2014, but the two often butted heads during their brief tenure together.
The Cavaliers eventually traded Waiters midway through the 2014-15 campaign in a three-team deal that sent JR Smith to Cleveland.
"If JR f----- up, it'll be off the court," one team executive said, according to Vardon, Oram, and Lloyd. "Dion was f------ us up on the court."
All three players are now members of the Los Angeles Lakers, though they have yet to play alongside one another due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Lakers signed Waiters for the remainder of the 2019-20 season in March, and Smith joined the team ahead of the league's restart in Orlando.