Meyers Leonard signs with the Bucks, two years on from his ban and $50k fine for anti-Semitic slur

Free agent center Meyers Leonard will reportedly sign a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, two years from his last NBA appearance.

The Bucks have had their eyes on Leonard for more than a year and conducted a workout with the 30-year-old in January, according to ESPN. Milwaukee had a vacant roster spot and wanted to sign a big guy who knew how to shoot and had playoff experience.

Leonard was suspended for a week and fined $50,000 after making an anti-Semitic slur on a live video game stream while injured in early 2021.

Leonard was part of the Miami Heat team that reached the NBA Finals during the 2020 NBA Bubble and also played in 28 playoff games in his seven seasons with the Portland Trailblazers.

However, what seemed to be a promising future for the 11th pick in the 2012 draft quickly turned into a nightmare.

Meyers Leonard is set to return to the NBA after last playing in the league for Miami in January 2021.

He will reportedly sign with the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference for 10 days.

From March 2021 to now, no team out of the league’s 30 wanted to take a chance on Leonard after video surfaced of him using an anti-Semitic slur while live streaming a video game on the Twitch website.

“Fucking cowards,” Leonard is heard saying during the recording of his Twitch stream. ‘Don’t shoot me, you fucking bitch.’

Nearly two years later, Leonard opened up in an interview with ESPN’s ‘Outside the Lines’ and admitted he was unaware of the meaning behind the offensive word. He also told host Jeremy Schaap that “less than ideal language is used in a lot of video games.”

Leonard went on to say that he didn’t realize what he had actually said until it was too late: “There is absolutely no excuse for what happened that day.”

And ignorance, unfortunately, is a very real thing. …I’m not running from this, but I didn’t know it happened.’

He apologized for the incident in 2021 after being roundly criticized by Jewish groups and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who fined Leonard $50,000 and banned him from being with the Heat for a week. The team had previously said Leonard would be out indefinitely.

NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN that Leonard is on good terms with the league after meeting with Jewish leaders.

“Since using a derogatory and unacceptable term in 2021, Meyers Leonard has been held accountable and has spent considerable time and effort understanding the impact of his comment,” Bass said.

Leonard was playing ‘Call of Duty’ on Twitch when he was told ‘k***’, an anti-Semitic slur

“He has met with numerous Jewish community leaders and has participated in community programs to educate himself and use his platform to share his learnings with others.”

Leonard’s absence from the NBA may not be strictly due to his use of the anti-Jewish slur. He recently received play clearance following a series of ankle and shoulder surgeries and reportedly worked out for the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this month.

Before the news of the Bucks contract, Leonard confessed that he feared that he would still be scolded for what he said almost two years ago.

“I’ll be a little scared by what someone might say to me, what a fan might say,” he told Schaap. “But I always come back to this: don’t give up. If you are a good person and work hard, things will turn out well in life. And I believe it with all my heart.

After the incident, Leonard, who was rehabbing after surgery for nerve damage in his right leg, was traded in a salary dump to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was never activated by the Thunder and became a free agent after the season.

Silver said in 2021 that he thinks Leonard “is really sorry” for using the slur.

Leonard stands with teammates kneeling during the national anthem before an NBA conference semifinal playoff basketball game against the Miami Heat on September 8.

“Meyers Leonard’s comment was inexcusable and hurtful and such an offensive term has no place in the NBA or in our society,” Silver said at the time.

Leonard was required by the league to participate in a cultural diversity program. He also met with representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish organization that works to stop extremism and provides anti-bias education.

The 7-foot former University of Illinois star also gained national notoriety during the 2020 NBA restart in Orlando when he decided to stand for the national anthem while his Miami teammates took a knee to protest racism. .

He explained his decision in August 2020, saying that he could be a patriot while supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Some of the conversations I’ve had in the last three days have literally been the most difficult,” Leonard told The Associated Press before a game inside the league’s bubble in Orlando.

“I am with the Black Lives Matter movement and I love and support the military, my brother and the people who have fought to defend our rights in this country.”