The Miami Heat have made a move on Meyers Leonard one week after he was caught using an ethnic slur during a video game stream. According to multiple reports and confirmed by CBS Sports, the Heat have traded Leonard to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Trevor Ariza. Miami is also sending the Thunder a 2027 second-round draft pick.
Last week, the NBA announced Leonard is suspended for one week and has been fined $50,000 for his incident. He is also required to take part in a cultural diversity program. Leonard was playing call of Duty during a Twitch stream when he said, “F—ing coward, don’t f—ing snipe me! “F—ing k— b—.”
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“Meyers Leonard’s comment was inexcusable and hurtful and such an offensive term has no place in the NBA or in our society,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Yesterday, he spoke to representatives of the Anti-Defamation League to better understand the impact of his words and we accept that he is genuinely remorseful. We have further communicated to Meyers that derogatory comments like this will not be tolerated and that he will be expected to uphold the core values of our league — equality, tolerance, inclusion and respect — at all times moving forward.”
Leonard issued an apology shortly after the video of him using the ethnic slur went viral. “I am deeply sorry for using an anti-Semitic slur during a live stream yesterday,” he wrote on Twitter. “While I 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. I am now more aware of its meaning and I am committed to properly seeking out people who can help educate me about this type of hate and how we can fight it.”
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Leonard had a no-trade clause in his contract but is expected to waive that in order for the trade to be complete. The Thunder aren’t expected to keep Leonard, which means he will be a free agent soon. Leonard was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers No. 11 overall in 2012. He spent seven years with the Trail Blazers before being traded to the Heat in July of 2019.
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