I can’t imagine what is was like for Thunder guard Dion Waiters to get the call that his brother Demetrius Pinckney had been shot and killed in the streets of Philadelphia.
He took some time away from the team to go back home and be with family and friends, and to mourn the loss of one of the people Waiters was closest to on the earth. Upon his return, he wrote a fantastic piece for the Players’ Tribune to say this was not just “Dion Waiter’s brother” who was killed but a special individual who deserves to be remembered by his own name.You should know the name Demetrius Pinckney. This is what I want you to remember about his life: We called him Zique. He loved to dance. He was always smiling and making the best out of life. I watched Zique grow up from being a goofy-ass little kid, always crying. He was the biggest mama’s boy in the neighborhood....
That’s the thing that I keep replaying in my head over and over. If I was home, I know it would’ve never happened. He wouldn’t have been on that bike on that block. He would’ve been with me. We would’ve been chillin’, eating some food, watching some TV at the crib. Staying out the way.
It plays on my conscience every day.
If. If. If.
Waiters must know this is not his fault, not his brother’s fault, it’s the fault of the person who pulled the trigger. But I can only imagine if my younger brother, a guy I wanted to protect and guide, had this happen to him. I can’t imagine Waiters’ guilt and pain.
Demetrius Pinckney, RIP.