Dion Waiters

Dion Waiters was born in Philadelphia in 1991. He is the sun of Monique Brown and Dion Waiters Sr. During his junior and sophomore year of high school, Waiters attended South Kent School in Philadelphia, but played basketball for Life Center Academy. After two years at Syracuse University, Waiters entered the 2012 NBA Draft. Waiters is in the process of establishing the Dion Waiters Foundation, a non-profit whose focus will be to help end teen violence in Philadelphia, a subject which holds a special meaning to him after he lost his younger brother to gun violence in 2016. The shooting guard hosts an annual Back to School Giveaway in his hometown of Philadelphia where he distributes backpacks filled with school supplies and clothing and also provides free haircuts to more than 300 kids in low-income communities. During Thanksgiving, Waiters goes into underserved communities throughout Philadelphia and gives away turkeys to families. He also hosts a free youth basketball camp in Philadelphia during the offseason for boys ages 8-13. Waiters recently donated money towards the renovation of the playground at E.M. Stanton Elementary School in Philadelphia where he first started playing the game of basketball. Fans can follow the sharpshooter on Twitter @dionwaiters3. After his freshman year in high school, Waiters committed to Syracuse. The 6-foot-4 guard was a street-ball legend and found a role as a scorer off the Orange bench for two seasons. He only played 16.3 minutes as a freshman and put up 6.6 points. He had his best scoring game in the season finale against Marquette in the NCAA Tournament with 18 points on an 8-of-10 tally from the field. Waiters' role increased as a sophomore. He improved his scoring average to 12.6 points and connected on 36.3 percent of his three-point attempts. Waiters reached the 20 point-mark thrice, including 28 points in a loss to Cincinnati in the Big East Tournament. He earned Big East Sixth Man of the Year and All-Big East Tournament honors, and he was an AP Honorable Mention All-American. Waiters helped the Orange get to the Elite Eight and his best performance in the NCAA Tournament came against Kansas State in the second round, where he scored 18 points. After his sophomore season, Waiters declared for the 2012 NBA Draft despite not having started a game in college. He was chosen with the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.