Tag: Meyers Leonard

NBA fans noticed that Meyers Leonard accidentally celebrated the Heat’s made shot from the Bucks bench

Absolute peak awkwardness.

Old habits are tough to break for Bucks forward Meyers Leonard, apparently.

When you’re not a rotation player, you’re supposed to be on the bench actively rooting for the teammates on the court. And Leonard did just that. That only problem was that he briefly forgot what team he played for.

Footage from Saturday’s Game 3 — not to be confused with Monday night’s Game 4 — went viral on Tuesday, showing a clip from Caleb Martin’s three late in the second quarter. The Bucks bench was in the frame, and we could see Leonard — who played for the Heat a couple seasons ago — stand up and celebrate before he realized he cheered for the wrong team and abruptly sat down.

I love how he tried to play it off calmly after realizing the mistake. Some fans thought he was signaling a two-for-one to the Bucks, but the NBA video clearly showed him holding up multiple fingers on both hands. That was a three celebration — an accidental one, at that.

None of his actual Bucks teammates seemed to notice, but unfortunately for Leonard, NBA fans saw it. And of course they had jokes.

Lakers were reportedly interested in Meyers Leonard before he joined the Bucks

The Lakers worked out center Meyers Leonard in January and had interest in signing him, but he instead went to the Bucks.

When backup center Mo Bamba went down with a sprained ankle, the Los Angeles Lakers were forced to move forward with small lineups whenever Anthony Davis wasn’t been on the court.

Bamba was acquired in a trade that sent veteran guard Patrick Beverley to the Orlando Magic in February, and he quickly showed he could help the team with his ability to rebound, block shots and hit 3-pointers.

In an attempt to bolster its frontcourt depth, Los Angeles has worked out several big men even before the Bamba trade. One was Meyers Leonard, who had been out of the NBA for a couple of years after he uttered an antisemitic slur during a live stream on Twitch.

According to Jovan Buha, the Lakers were interested in signing him for the rest of the season, but he instead joined the Milwaukee Bucks (h/t Lakers Daily).

Via The Athletic:

“The Lakers had an interest in signing Meyers Leonard, whom they worked out on Jan 13., before he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for the rest of the season, according to league sources who were not authorized to speak on potential signings.”

If Leonard simply didn’t want to join the Lakers and wanted to play for Milwaukee instead, then perhaps they shouldn’t be blamed.

But there is no doubt that he could’ve helped them with his rebounding, defense and 3-point shooting abilities.

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Center Meyers Leonard will work out for Lakers on Friday

The Lakers are digging through the free agent market to find some additional frontcourt depth.

With Anthony Davis still rehabbing from a stress injury in his right foot, the Los Angeles Lakers could use some viable frontcourt depth.

They have been reportedly looking into trade options the last several months. Among those options have been Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner and Detroit Pistons sharpshooting forward Bojan Bogdanovic.

Another avenue for improving L.A.’s frontcourt depth is the free agent market. The team reportedly worked out center Cody Zeller and is planning to look at veteran center DeMarcus Cousins.

Another big man the Lakers are planning on working out, according to Shams Charania (h/t Lakers Daily), is Meyers Leonard.

Leonard has been a productive rebounder over the years who added a potent 3-point shot to his arsenal. At 7-feet tall and 260 pounds, he definitely has legitimate size for the center position.

However, he was involved in a controversy about two years ago when he used an antisemitic slur during a live stream of a video game on Twitch. Leonard was disciplined with a fine and suspension. The Miami Heat quickly traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who waived him about a week later.

The big man has apparently made amends for the incident, and he met with Jewish leaders shortly afterward to grow and learn from it.

He last played in an NBA game on Jan. 9, 2021.

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Woj: Thunder trade Trevor Ariza to Heat for Meyers Leonard, draft pick

The Miami Heat have traded for Trevor Ariza, according to Wojnarowski. The Thunder receive Meyers Leonard and a second-round draft pick.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have reportedly found a trade destination for forward Trevor Ariza.

A day after reports broke that they were discussing a deal with the Miami Heat, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the deal had been agreed upon.

In exchange for Ariza, the Thunder will receive big Meyers Leonard and a 2027 second-round draft pick.

Leonard is not expected to join Oklahoma City. He suffered a shoulder injury that was expected to keep him sidelined for the remainder of the season, and then he was suspended by the Heat for using an anti-Semitic slur. He has a team option on his contract for next year.

The 2027 pick is the fourth the Thunder own: They have their own, the Indiana Pacers’ and the Houston Rockets’.

Ariza never played for the Thunder. Oklahoma City received him from the Detroit Pistons in a three-team trade this offseason, but he did not join the team.

In that deal, the Thunder sent James Johnson, who also never played for the team, to the Dallas Mavericks for Ariza, Justin Jackson, a 2023 second-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick. That means that in total, OKC received Jackson and three draft picks for Johnson.

Ariza is in his 17th NBA season and is a playoff-experienced 3-and-D forward who can play the 3 and 4. As the Heat chase another deep playoff run, they expect he can be helpful the way he was with the Portland Trail Blazers last season.

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Udonis Haslem addresses Meyer Leonard’s anti-Semitic slur: ‘We can’t tolerate that here’

Well said.

Miami Heat vet Udonis Haslem didn’t mince words when it came to addressing his teammate Meyers Leonard and the anti-Semitic slur that Leonard said on a Twitch stream earlier this week (which he then apologized for).

“We can’t tolerate that here,” Haslem said, per the Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman, “and right is right and wrong is wrong.”

Haslem — who added a little levity by saying he has Jewish friends who call him “Udonis Haslem-berg at times” — wasn’t the only one to address it. Coach Eric Spoelstra added, “There’s just so much more that needs to be done,” and that “there are consequences to words.”

https://twitter.com/IraHeatBeat/status/1369829616769261572

That’s exactly what they should be saying. Nice to see no one is taking this lightly on the Heat.

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Julian Edelman writes open letter to Trail Blazers’ Meyers Leonard after slur

Julian Edelman has posted an open letter to the Miami Heat’s Meyers Leonard after the basketball player used an Anti-Semitic slur

New England Patriots wide receiver wrote an open letter to the Miami Heat’s Meyers Leonard the day after video surfaced showing the basketball player uttering an Anti-Semitic slur while playing a video game.

Leonard has been asked to remain away from the team while it and the league investigates the incident.

Edelman wrote:

“I get the sense that you didn’t use that word out of hate, more out of ignorance. Most likely, you weren’t trying to hurt anyone or even profile Jews in your comment. That’s what makes it so destructive. When someone intends to be hateful, it’s usually met with great resistance. Casual ignorance is harder to combat and has greater reach, especially when you command great influence. Hate is like a virus. Even accidentally, it can rapidly spread.”

Leonard posted an apology hours after the story went viral.

“I am deeply sorry for using an anti-Semitic slur during a livestream yesterday,” Leonard wrote in an Instagram post, adding that he didn’t know what the word meant at the time. “My ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse and I was just wrong.”

Edelman took a similar interest in former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who was involved in Anti-Semitic social media posts last year.

Per ESPN.com: 

Edelman and Jackson ended up talking after that, with Edelman later telling reporters: “We’ve stayed in touch. I think it was a healthy conversation. … I just wanted to not only show that I support my community but also show that I’m here to help people in my league, because we’re all one.”

Julian Edelman writes heartfelt open letter to Meyers Leonard after anti-Semitic slur

“I just wanted to offer some perspective.”

After Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard used an anti-Semitic slur on a live Twitch stream (which he apologized for), it’s once again Julian Edelman who is publicly reaching out to connect and “offer some perspective,” as he wrote on Wednesday.

Last July, then-Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson posted anti-Semitic quotes on Instagram, which he later apologized for.

It was the New England Patriots wide receiver — who is Jewish — who reached out publicly over social media to make an offer to go with Jackson to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and they could “have those uncomfortable conversations.”

On Wednesday, Edelman wrote an open letter to Leonard, and said he wanted to do a Shabbat dinner with Leonard in Miami sometime:

It’s once again incredible to see Edelman offering an olive branch and some education in the face of an offensive utterance.

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Meyers Leonard was ripped for his awful apology for using anti-Semitic slur

Really, Meyers Leonard?

Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard was playing Call of Duty on a Twitch stream on Tuesday when he yelled out an anti-Semitic slur while trash talking with other people who were playing the game with him.

It was a very ugly moment that was quickly followed by Leonard taking a phone call and then ending his game because he said his wife needed him.

Hours later Leonard, who has been out with a shoulder injury since January, posted a statement on Instagram in which he apologized for using the slur and said that he didn’t know how awful the word was.

For real.

Here’s Leonard’s statement:

Come on, man.

Twitter had reactions:

The Heat’s Meyers Leonard said an anti-Semitic slur during a Twitch stream

Awful.

As the Miami Heat return this week from the All-Star break, the team should expect to answer for the conduct of injured center Meyers Leonard.

Leonard, who is out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury and hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since January, was recorded saying an anti-Semitic slur during a Twitch stream of Call of Duty on Tuesday.

Leonard — pictured in the box on the left in his video stream with the bleached hair — could be seen saying the slur while trash-talking other players on the stream.

Warning: The video contains NSFW language.

During the NBA’s restart in the Orlando bubble, Leonard was the lone Heat player to stand during the national anthem. Though protests during the anthem are not about the military, Leonard defended it at the time as him “supporting the military” rather than acting out of opposition for the Black Lives Matter movement.

He said in August:

“Some of the conversations I’ve had over the past three days, quite literally, have been the most difficult,” Leonard told The Associated Press prior to the game. “I am with the Black Lives Matter movement and I love and support the military and my brother and the people who have fought to defend our rights in this country.”

Leonard has yet to offer his response to the video, but he did receive a phone call during his Tuesday Twitch stream and left the game shortly after that call.

For The Win has reached out to the Miami Heat and will update with their response.

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Bronny James joins FaZe Clan as an e-sports athlete

Bronny James has NBA aspirations but he’s already going professional as a gamer, joining the lauded FaZe Clan.

Much like everything these days, the landscape for young athletes is changing rapidly. With California passing a bill last year to effectively change amateurism and let school-aged athletes profit off of their name and likeness, Bronny James is in prime position to take advantage of such rules. It looks like, at least in terms of the world of e-sports, Bronny already is.

On Sunday, the professional e-sports organization and team FaZe Clan announced they had added Bronny James to their already elite roster of e-sports athletes. Bronny is far from the first hooper to join them, but he’s the first one who is still in high school to join them, joining NBAers Ben Simmons and Meyers Leonard as members of the FaZe Clan.

Bronny has gone head to head against elite gamers quite a bit, particularly during the early days of the pandemic. He competed in a Call of Duty tournament presented by SLAM Magazine, which featured pros form the NBA and e-sports.

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