Meyers Leonard finally gets signed by the Bucks for the remainder of the season after two succesful 10-day spells

We are 13 games from the end of regular season, and you can tell the Bucks are already thinking about post-season, as they are leading the general standing with an outstanding 50-19 record this campaign. Ever since the trade deadline they’ve been trying out players to complete their roster for the playoffs, as Goran Dragic was signed not too long ago. 

After two succesful 10-day spells, Milwaukee has finally decided to keep Meyers Leonard for the rest of the championship. The center has only played in five matches wearing the green uniform, and has averaged 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 6.8 minutes per contest.

Meyers stays on with Milwaukee for the rest of the season. https://t.co/1n8IkdxiFe pic.twitter.com/Y3WTNuUxfb

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 15, 2023

It all started back in the Bucks’s last game before the all-star break, as Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a wrist injury that left him limited in the All-Star contest. The Milwaukee foward met with the medical staff and avoided any major injuries that would leave him out for the rest of the season. With the two-time MVP set to miss a small amount of time, management decided to give Meyers Leonard his first 10-day contract with the squad.

Four games after his first signature, we couldn’t say he had made a huge contribution to the Bucks season as a whole, but the big man was effective when he played. Let’s just say the seven-foot athlete was fortunate enough to receive a second-consecutive 10-day contract with the team.

His best performance came on March 7 against the Magic, as Leonard scored 3 points and won two rebounds in under 8 minutes of play. The Bucks won 134 to 123 that night in Orlando.

Leonard hopes to leave his polemic background well in the past

Almost two years after Meyers Leonard was caught using antisemitic slur in a videogame platform, the NBA player finally opened up about the incident and his journey towards redemption.

There are “no excuses” he said in an interview with Jeremy Schaap of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” back in January. “I feel like I’m living in a bad dream,” Leonard said on the program.”There’s not a hateful cell in my body. And I know that I made a huge, huge mistake.”

The 31-year-old used the controversial term repeatedly while playing Call of Duty live back in March 2021, and almost immediately the internet went wild. The Miami Heat, his team at the time, consequently suspended and fined the player. However, soon after he was rejected and set as a free agent.

Here’s a clip of the player’s incident as playing live on his Twitch channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHi_HDDcM1c

The next day, Meyers offered an apology stating: “I deeply regret using an an antisemitic insult during yersterday’s live transmission. I didn’t know what the word meant at the time, my ignorance about their history and how offensive it is towards the Jewish community is not an excuse and I simply was wrong.”

Leonard, who before the Bucks had played in 447 NBA games, averaging 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds, was eventually tried out by many NBA franchises. The center, who was the 11th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft, was close to signing with the Lakers before the latest trade deadline, but eventually landed in Milwaukee.