Veteran NBA big man Meyers Leonard has reportedly played his last game for the Miami Heat after using an anti-Semitic slur in a video that appeared on social media.
The Heat are trading Leonard and a second-round draft pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for veteran small forward Trevor Ariza, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
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Leonard was fined $50,000 and suspended from Heat team facilities for a week on March 11 after he was heard calling an opponent the K-word on the livestream gaming platform Twitch two days earlier. The video was captured on social media, and was widely shared within hours.
The 29-year-old later apologized, and claimed he didn't know the meaning of the word. Team leader Udonis Haslem, responding to the incident, said "we can't tolerate that here."
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the episode was "inexcusable," and added that the league accepted that Leonard was "genuinely remorseful."
Leonard, who played his college ball at Illinois and was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2012, played in only five games for the Heat this year before he was lost to a season-ending shoulder injury.
With Leonard's year over and free agency on the horizon at season's end, it seems unlikely he'll join the Thunder. For Oklahoma City, the move appears to have been made with the aim of acquiring the draft pick.
Ariza, acquired during training camp, hasn't played in over a year after opting out of the bubble in Orlando and declining to report to the Thunder. The swap pads Ariza's tally as the most-traded player in league history.