At ft 6 in (2.11 m) and 225 lb (102 kg), Waiters played Ccenter for Ohio's men's basketball team and was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round of the 1983 NBA Draft. The Blazers sold their draft rights to the Indiana Pacers, and Waiters spent his first two seasons in Indiana. He then played for the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls until leaving the NBA for Europe in 1988. Waiters averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds over the course of his NBA career.