Dion Waiters Refutes Story Quoting Dion Waiters Saying He Was Skipping National Anthems Because He is Muslim

Dion Waiters was absent during the National Anthem before Wednesday’s Jazz – Cavaliers game. On Friday, Cleveland.com (Northeast Ohio Media Group) ran a story with quotes from Waiters saying that he had rededicated himself to his Muslim faith and that’s why he missed the anthem. From Cleveland.com:

"Waiters informed Northeast Ohio Media Group that he is a Muslim and that’s the reason he excused himself prior to the national anthem. “It’s because of my religion,” Waiters told NEOMG. “That’s why I stayed in the locker room.”"

For a brief moment, it appeared the NBA had a 2014-version of the Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf situation on its hands, but Waiters was back out there with his team for the National Anthem ahead of Friday night’s game against the Nuggets. This morning, Waiters took to Twitter to outright deny the story.

So this story took two sharp turns in the last 24 hours. On Thursday it was a story about a player having a little disagreement with his team. Now religion and accusations of making up quotes from the media are involved. It’s been a quiet start to the season for Cleveland.