On March 9th Meyers Leonard was live streaming Call of Duty on twitch. During the game, Meyers Leonard called his opponent an anti-Semitic slur. Immediately after Meyers Leonard called his opponent a racial slur the video surfaced on the internet and he ended the live stream. When the video surfaced on the internet Meyers Leonard immediately apologized on Instagram but it was too late. The Miami Heat put out a statement on Instagram saying “The words used by Meyers Leonard were wrong and we will not tolerate hateful language from anyone associated with our franchise.” The Miami Heat also said in that statement that Meyers Leonard would be away from the team indefinitely and that they would cooperate with the NBA in the investigation of the matter. The NBA Commissioner Adam Silver ended up fining Leonard $50,000, made him go to a cultural diversity program, and suspended him from being around the Heat for one week even though the Miami Heat already said that Leonard would be away from the team indefinitely. Also, Meyers Leonard lost Esports sponsorships from Faze, Astro Gaming, Origin PC, and other gaming companies. After that Pat Riley and the Miami Heat traded Meyers Leonard to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Trevor Ariza and a 2027 second round pick. In my opinion, the Miami Heat handled the crisis perfectly. The Miami Heat immediately put out a statement about the issue and also suspended Meyers Leonard from being with the team which I think was the perfect move for the situation that they were in. They also cooperated with Adam Silver and the league which was a smart decision. But my favorite and smartest decision that the Miami Heat made was to trade Meyers Leonard for Trevor Ariza and a 2027 second round pick because that moved the controversy and distraction to another team. Also, it got the Miami heat a draft pick for the future and a better and more valuable player to a team that can compete and win in the playoffs this year. In my opinion, Pat Riley and the Miami Heat get an A+ for how they handled everything.
