Meyers Leonard has achieved what he was looking for. A few weeks ago we pointed out that the veteran center hoped to have another opportunity in the NBA and this one has finally arrived.
As reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN; The center has signed a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that had been monitoring his progress for more than a year and organized a private training session with him in January. Having passed these tests, now they want to see him on the floor playing official matches.
Leonard, who has experienced highly controversial moments in recent years by failing to take a knee for Black Lives Matter and later uttering an anti-Semitic slur in a live video game broadcast, will have a chance to prove that such moments are in the past and that his head is set solely on playing basketball.
Regarding the claim of the Milwaukee organization with his hiring, it had a vacant spot on its roster and wanted to cover it with a big man who had shooting range and playoff experience. Leonard ticks both boxes, as he played in as many as 28 postseason games during his seven-season stint with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Having to overcome an injury that had affected the nerves in his right leg, Leonard returns to the courts after more than two years of absence, since it was in January 2021 when he played his last game with the Miami Heat, at which time that the NBA suspended him for a week and fined him $50,000 for the anti-Semitic slur.
Since that time, Leonard has worked on his education on the subject; so much so that he sought the advice of two rabbis in South Florida and met with various Jewish organizations frequently, learning more about anti-Semitism.
“I felt like I had just destroyed my life and everything I worked for. People had every right to, I guess, make assumptions about me. People were going to comment on this in the media. I get it,” he recently commented in an interview with Jeremy Schaap on “Outside the Lines” from ESPN.
(Photograph by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
