6:08pm: Thunder GM Sam Presti has announced that the team has officially released Leonard, via a team press release.
4:17pm: The Thunder have waived veteran center Meyers Leonard, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The move had been expected, as the Thunder only acquired Leonard in last week’s Trevor Ariza trade for salary-matching purposes. Oklahoma City kept him on the roster in case his $9.4MM salary proved useful in another deadline deal, but with the deadline now behind us, it didn’t take long for them to officially part ways with him.
Leonard is out for the season with a shoulder injury and was recently fined and suspended for using an anti-Semitic slur during a video game live stream. While his salary for this season is guaranteed, his $10.15MM salary for 2021/22 is a team option and has long been viewed as a lock to be declined. The Thunder won’t be on the hook for any of next season’s money.
The move will temporarily open up a spot on Oklahoma City’s roster, but it’ll be filled in the team’s two-for-one deal involving George Hill. With Hill and Leonard heading out, the Thunder are adding Tony Bradley and Austin Rivers.
RIP his career.
The P stands for piss lmaooooo bozo
he still rich and has a hot wife lmao poor leonard
True, but don’t discount the legacy he’s leaving behind (I also believe his career is over) and how important it is to a lot of these guys. He’ll always be known for his slip of the tongue and nothing about what he accomplished actually playing the game.
Personally I hope his wife leaves him for a rich Jewish lawyer.
Most people will forget about this as soon as the next thing happens.
I mean, it was a better career than Treveon Graham’s
I hope it isn’t the end for his career and he gets a second chance. Personally I don’t believe in punishment where there is no chance for redemption.
Seems like he has a burgeoning career playing video games online. Esports…is a thing?
Right, so why punish murderers and rapists?
If Leonard is cool with playing ball in Eastern Europe and Russia, he’ll get as many chances as he likes.
Think you are being a bit extreme if you think I’m talking about murderers and rapists. You are also being extreme if you compare a guy who said a hateful slur to one of those two things.
Tbh, extreme was the point, if only because I disagree, and think the unredeemable “crimes” are the ones we should be punishing. A person who commits a redeemable “crime” – if they follow through and redeem themselves, why punish them?
I think Leonard’s moment was outrageously ignorant – I’m not Jewish, but I happen to think it’s redeemable.
His moment has put his life on a new, fair (imo) path. The NBA is about marketable people – and at this stage of his new path, he is not marketable. He’s a person of great means and financial security, so he actually has an opportunity to redeem himself, imo.
If Ilyasova is still an NBA player at his age and skillset, Leonard can be too. But that is his “redemption” away.
Pretty sure there is a grand canyon size difference of the crimes you said and saying a slur on COD.
It’s possible but not likely. He was never really a great player.
Why are you so interested in defending him and him getting a second chance? He’s a terrible basketball player but because he fired out a racial slur, suddenly people like you are speaking out on his behalf. I guarantee you had no opinion on him until he decided to slander Jews, now suddenly you care.
No idea why so many people rush to defend soft ass racism.
If you are trying to imply I am anti-semitic rct you should know I am Jewish lol. I just believe people should face consequences, but be able to learn from their mistakes and not lose their careers forever.
The weird thing is that Red Sox outfielder Enrique Hernandez can use the exact same spelling for his nickname KEY KAY and yet no one bats an eye. I realize it is a different language, but can you imagine if someone from another country had the nickname pronounced NIGH JER but spelled the same way as the racial epithet?
I think it’s the context that matters. Having a nickname in another language vs using a slur as an expletive.
Also it’s not the exact same spelling as Enrique uses an accent mark.
Same letters = same spelling. Most of the time when his name is written on an English keyboard it doesn’t use accent marks.
I agree with you, but I just feel that some wouldn’t matter regardless. Remember when that newspaper got in trouble for describing Jeremy Lin using the phrase that had nothing to do with his race ” a ‘blank’ in his armor.” That phrase has been in use since before the English even met the Chinese and yet that writer was fired. Even though the context was clearly not racial. It’s never going to get better unless everyone knows what is right and what is wrong and it is equal across the board.
Someone who writes for a living should be able to come up with a better/different analogy. It’s literally what they’re paid to do. So yeah, context matters.
Golden State?
Why? He doesn’t offer anything that they need.
Though I am of the Hebrew Pursuasion myself, and deplore ethnic, racial and religious slurs , I seriously question punishing people for what they say in private or non public moments to people they are conversing with. There is a simple and VERY important liberty and privacy issue here that is being totally ignored.
He wasn’t in private. He streams on Twitch. He has around 70,000 followers. link to twitch.tv
Twitch ain’t private bro
He’ll be back. A big can always find work. If politicians can get away with all the racist BS they push. A tall guy who has a slip should be able to keep playing. It’s 100 times worse that a person in government does it.
Now anybody surprised that OKC Released Leonard after he had his publicly bigoted dialog released before his trade from Miami & also the fact that Leonard is once again out for another season due to another shoulder injury.
He’s not the first athlete to insult the Hebrews. Others have survived. He will be back once cancel culture moves on to their next victim.
Why would he be back? He doesn’t offer a whole lot to a team. Some people get canceled because there wasn’t much there to begin with.