Lindy Waters III spent the first quarter of the season fighting irrelevance at the end of the bench, logging empty minutes that actively hurt his team. During a brutal 11/13 vs GSW appearance, he recorded zero points, rebounds, or assists in four minutes, yielding a disastrous -11.0 Impact score. His inability to contribute anything on the glass or as a playmaker meant he was essentially a ghost on the floor, bleeding value through sheer inactivity. The offensive struggles dragged on through a 12/04 vs ORL matchup, where he bricked all three of his attempts from deep to generate a miserable -8.0 Impact. However, a sudden pulse finally emerged on 12/20 vs ATL. Given an extended 17-minute run, Waters knocked down two of his four three-point attempts to score eight points, earning a +3.3 Impact. That late spark revealed that when his perimeter shot actually falls, he can be a viable floor-spacer rather than a complete lineup liability.

Lindy Waters III spent this midseason stretch marooned at the end of the bench, struggling to find any rhythm during sporadic, low-leverage minutes. His brief appearances were routinely plagued by cold shooting and a complete lack of peripheral production. During an abysmal outing on 01/19 vs UTA, Waters missed all three of his field goal attempts and recorded zero rebounds or assists in five minutes, resulting in a disastrous -15.1 Impact score. Even when given an extended leash on 01/03 vs IND, his stretch-high 7 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes still yielded a -1.3 Impact score. Although he hit a pair of three-pointers in that contest, his failure to consistently disrupt the opponent's offense or create quality looks for others kept his overall value in the red. The offensive futility continued on 01/14 vs OKC, where a clunky 1-for-5 shooting night across 13 minutes generated a bleak -8.9 Impact score. When a fringe rotation player cannot hit open shots or contribute on the glass, those fleeting minutes quickly become a liability.