Disrespect — real or perceived — has led to plenty of altercations. And in a world of social media-subliminal jabs and burner accounts, the avenues to express dissatisfaction now seem endless.
The world of burner accounts might be the root of an altercation between Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo and his former teammate, Tyler Herro, who was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks this offseason in the deal that sent Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat.
Adebayo punched Herro Friday morning in Las Vegas, The Athletic confirmed, at a gym at the Resorts World Casino in front of the AAU team run by Herro. After the Heat-Bucks trade, a fan leaked direct messages alleged to be from an account connected to Herro in which he spoke unfavorably about Adebayo’s play and how the Heat and fans favored Adebayo.
Athletes expressing themselves isn’t the problem. It’s how.
Trusting random fans in your inbox and hiding behind burner accounts doesn’t prevent fallout. And if this is how Herro chose to vent after being traded, it’s possible he’s not the only player in the NBA doing so. Friday’s incident shows the potential for more conflict remaining. The NBA doesn’t need this to become a part of its culture.
Talking tough over text is something that happens often. Many of us have vented to a friend in a direct message. We should understand the inherent risks. You become one screenshot away from your feelings being shared on someone’s Instagram story.
Those risks are greater for celebrities. Their inboxes can make headlines. Talking tough — to a stranger — is wild. It’s one thing for your DMs to be open to family, but chatting with fans is a setup for problems.
Sometimes, athletes exchange words, and that’s it. That was the case in 2021 when the NBA’s Marcus and Markieff Morris went back and forth with Nikola Jokić’s brothers in social media exchanges. What started with a hard foul late by Marcus and a shove from Jokić led to their siblings having words on X.
Markieff bemoaned that Jokić pushed his brother while his back was turned. Marcus chimed in with similar sentiments. Jokić’s brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, created an account just to tell the Morris twins they’d better not threaten Nikola, because they’d be ready.
No one ever had to be defended. Marcus eventually posted that their mother told them to stop the internet talk. Just a reminder: No amount of bravado trumps a mother’s orders.
But when posts lead to fists, we’ve reached a dangerous level.
Players have always fought on and off the court. There was a period in the NBA where the league was known for its physicality. Some of the biggest names in NBA history have taken swings at opponents and escaped without so much as a flagrant foul. A group of highly competitive athletes letting things get out of hand during a game isn’t shocking. Friday’s incident highlighted the risk that private comments can provoke public responses from those who feel wronged.
Herro wasn’t be the first player to be struck by another player. Charles Oakley, then of the Toronto Raptors, slapped the Philadelphia 76ers’ Tyrone Hill before a 2000 preseason game over an unpaid gambling debt. Oakley later was suspended and fined $10,000 in April 2001 for throwing a ball at Hill during a shootaround. He also was suspended three games and fined $15,000 for punching LA Clippers guard Jeff McInnis over comments he made during an earlier game.
Zach Randolph recalled when Portland Trail Blazers teammate Ruben Patterson had been a “bully” and took some locker room roughhousing too far. Patterson slammed a young Randolph so hard in the locker room that it hurt his back.
That animosity lingered, and during a practice altercation between Patterson and Qyntel Woods, Randolph punched Patterson and fractured his eye socket. Randolph was fined $100,000 and suspended two games.
The practice court is where a lot of tension boils over, but those situations rarely become public. When they do, it’s news.
Perhaps the most famous example of words going too far was in December 2009, when Gilbert Arenas, who admittedly took a prank too far by bringing guns to the Washington Wizards’ locker room after a dispute with Javaris Crittenton — who had taken Arenas’ joking threats seriously and had a gun with him. Both were suspended for the rest of the 2009-10 season, amounting to 50 games for Arenas.
Both also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor gun charges. Crittenton was sentenced to one year of probation. Arenas was sentenced to two years of probation, including 30 days in a halfway house and 400 hours of community service. Both were also fined.
Golden State’s Draymond Green had video of him hitting teammate Jordan Poole in 2022 in perhaps the most notorious example in recent years of an altercation involving teammates.
That’s just a small sample of instances when issues went beyond words.
But now the added layer of social media and accounts that might not directly connect to the athlete can create more opportunities to say things that might not be said in a public forum.
And screenshots live forever.
Any athlete chatting with a fan in disparaging ways about another player shows questionable judgment. The risks of exposure are too great. Even using a burner account publicly is risky, because sometimes the person sharing the gossip isn’t just a fan. There is no true anonymity — who can you really trust?
The Houston Rockets’ Kevin Durant was accused of using a burner account on X to criticize teammates. It wasn’t the first time Durant was tied to a burner. He apologized in 2017 after accidentally revealing his identity while using another account to criticize his former coach, Billy Donovan, and former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates. He forgot to switch accounts and ended up referring to himself in the third person.
Players aren’t alone in the burner games. Former NBA executive Bryan Colangelo was caught with a burner account in 2018 with Philadelphia and later resigned.
Adebayo punching Herro in front of high school players isn’t the way disputes should be handled. It’s unacceptable and just not smart.
Why risk injuring something very important to basketball players — their hands — trying to knock sense into someone silly enough to share his thoughts with a stranger in his inbox? There’s also the possibility Adebayo could have encountered the wrong AAU team, one that reacted differently after seeing the NBA player associated with its program get clocked.
If the alleged screenshots are indeed Herro’s words, him choosing to vent to an anonymous fan (if it was really a fan) is baffling and also inexcusable. We may never know what was said before a punch was thrown.
As long as there are social media, burner accounts and someone willing to share screenshots, the potential for another altercation between players remains.
Why? It’s just too easy to let one’s fingers do the talking if they think they can get away with it.
