Our love for 'viral social media' NBA players

From that moment on, everyone rooted for Waiters. The term Waiters Island became a mainstream joke for those who believed in his potential and weren't ready to jump ship just yet, even as Waiters left Oklahoma City and joined the Miami Heat this summer, with his potential still unfulfilled.

I've thought a lot about this third category of NBA players we root for. The description for this group is players is harder to pin down. They're players who you've read articles describing them as misunderstood, underachieving, just needs the right environment to succeed. They are, in a way, superstars who are not superstars, players who belong in their own realm for their uniqueness, but also for the way we've elevated them via social media, taking them from undecorated players and turning them into cult figures. Dion Waiters is a prime example of that. But there are so many in this league, past and present.

There are social media players across the league that we root for. Even though Waiters didn't pan out in Cleveland, LeBron inherited another popular social player in J.R. Smith, who had his own track record when he arrived on the Cavs, who hit a bunch of three-pointers but was also known for ordering as much room service as he could in China because he felt like it and partying with Rihanna in New York and enjoying life in general.

To envision these players in a successful position is something we don't consider most of the time. These players exist in their own space, provide us with cool moments here and there, whether it's on the court or off it, but how they truly ascend into another space in our hearts and minds is when they finally reach the top, as Smith did last season when he was a crucial part of the Cavs' historic comeback from a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.

Smith provided the perfect juxtaposition of such cult figures in the league, delivering a heartfelt press conference after the Game 7 win, and then hours later was shirtless and was pouring champagne on everyone as the championship celebration took a detour to Las Vegas. Smith would continue his shirtless spree at the parade, and even prompted then-president Barack Obama to tell head coach Tyronn Lue to pass on a message: tell J.R. to put a shirt on. 

There are social players everywhere waiting for us to embrace them. JaVale McGee is now the starting center on a Golden State team that is running away with the West and pummeling opponents on a nightly basis. On a super team full of stars, he is finally in his element, not required to live up to any superstar potential in his own right, but in an environment where he can succeed and give us the occasional alley-oop highlight. It might feel discrete, but for McGee – someone who (in)famously was shameless in his attempt for a triple double and once ran the wrong way back down the court even though his team had retrieved possession on an offensive rebound – it's another example of a social player finding his place.

Even though social media has given us a space to amplify the popularity of these players, truthfully, they've always existed in the NBA space. When I look back at my fandom and the time I've spent following the league, players like Metta World Peace, Ricky Davis and Antoine Walker come to mind as players who achieved their own cult following, and whose impact would probably be much greater if they existed in today's era.

Of course, not all social player find their place like Smith and McGee. Lance Stephenson, who once put up triple-doubles on the regular with the Indiana Pacers, ascended to his own space after his feud with LeBron which culminated in him blowing in LeBron's ear during the Eastern Conference Finals. But then Stephenson bet on himself and took less money on a shorter contract to sign with the Charlotte Hornets, watched all of that blow up in his face, bounced around the league and is now on a 10-day contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

There's Michael Beasley, drafted second overall by the Miami Heat, who has never been able to establish himself as a regular rotation player in the league, had a stint in China where he once scored 63 points and put up a triple double in their All-Star game, and is now trying to re-establish himself in Milwaukee. One of his Bucks teammate is another social star. That would be Matthew Dellavedova, who is just as likely to sell you a coffee brand as he is the person to put your team's power forward in a figure four leg lock while fighting for a rebound.

While the league will always be populated with generational stars, we'll always have these cult followings to keep us entertained during the regular season.

Waiters is averaging 15.5 points, 4.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds in Miami this season. After a slow start, the Heat went on a 13-game win streak recently to get back into the playoff race in the East. On January 23rd, at home against Golden State, with the game tied at 102 in the closing seconds, Waiters  – who finished the game with 33 points – sized up Klay Thompson at the top of the key, and created some space for himself from beyond the arc with a few dribble moves, pulled up and hit a game-winning three-point shot with 0.6 seconds left on the clock to knock off the mighty Warriors.

The signature pose afterwards will go down in the social media player Hall of Fame. Players like Waiters, Smith, McGee, Stephenson and Beasley have their own personal stories, real stories beyond just the Vines and YouTubes and shirtless videos that we worship. Those stories are important, and they should be told, but just as important is our connection to them. They fuel our fandom, they provide us with the entertainment aspect that a lot of us crave when we spent countless hours watching basketball. Watching Waiters strike a pose after his game-winner against the Warriors, I couldn't help but think: this is maybe why we watch all these games anyways.