MIAMI — A former Miami Heat center, who hasn’t played an NBA game since using an antisemitic slur during a livestream, is returning to the league under a 10-day contract, according to multiple reports.
ESPN first reported Meyers Leonard agreed to a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks' first game after the All-Star break is against Leonard’s former team, the Heat, on Friday in Milwaukee.
Leonard was livestreaming a video game, “Call of Duty,” when he used an antisemitic slur in March 2021.
According to previous Herald reports, the Heat announced Leonard was suspended from the team indefinitely after a video original streamed on Twitch showed Leonard saying, “F---ing cowards, don’t f---ing snipe me you f---ing k--e b---h.”
The Associated Press reported NBA commissioner Adam Silver fined Leonard $50,000 and the Heat traded him to Oklahoma City a few days later.
However, injuries sustained prior to the antisemitic slur incident kept Leonard out from playing in any NBA games, while working to atone for his speech behind the scenes.
“Over the last five months, I have immersed myself in the process of learning about the Jewish community,” Leonard wrote in an Instagram post in August 2021, according to an earlier Herald report. “This was not something prescribed or forced upon me. It’s something that I felt and knew in my heart was right to do, which is why, I chose to do it privately. Having the ability to learn about one another is not a form of punishment, it is a gift. Our differences aren’t what divide us, it’s our lack of understanding that does.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have had so many real and honest conversations with Jewish friends and leaders about the beliefs, history, and challenges faced and still facing the Jewish community. Listening to the first-hand experiences of how antisemitic views and actions have been weaponized over and over again throughout history and still persist today is troubling. I’m committed to being an ally.
“A true mistake and extreme ignorance is how this all began for me, but growing from this is a part of the journey. Again, I’d like to say how truly sorry I am to those who were hurt by my word. I take full ownership of my ignorance and will continue to do better through my actions.
“I’d also like to say how grateful I am for all of the love, compassion, and forgiveness that the Jewish community has graciously shown me. To the ADL, thank you for working with me over this time and allowing me an opportunity to use my words as part of the solution on your ‘Fighting Hate From Home’ panel today.
“To Rabbi Pinny, Rabbi Goldberg, Steve Stowe, Matthew Hiltzik & Michael Goldberg, MBJCC and the countless others who have spent hours and hours over Shabbat dinners, lunch, phone calls and time in each other’s homes — THANK YOU. It’s with your grace that I know my future actions will always be louder than this one incident.”
