Meyers Leonard Signs 10-Day Contract with Milwaukee Bucks

Free agent center Meyers Leonard, a former member of the Portland Trail Blazers, is making a return to the NBA, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, sources say that Leonard — out of the NBA since March 2021 after uttering an antisemitic slur on a video game livestream and rehabbing post-surgical nerve damage on his right leg — is signing a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Leonard, who turns 31 next week, was the No. 11 pick for the Blazers back in 2012 and played his first eight NBA seasons in Portland. He was Portland’s starting center in the 2019 Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors, taking the place of the injured Jusuf Nurkic. The Blazers traded him that offseason to the Miami Heat in a four-team deal.

While with the Heat, Leonard suffered a leg injury and forced him to miss significant time. While sidelined, Leonard used an antisemitic slur on a video game livestream, which resulted in the Heat trading him to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Leonard was waived shortly after and has not been on an NBA roster since. Now, nearly two years later, Leonard is back in the league healthy, educated and remorseful of his past, hoping to help the Bucks to their second title in three years.