Leonard’s new moniker — King of the NBA bubble
The Miami Heat arrived at the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus less than a week ago, but Meyers Leonard is already one of the bubble’s social media stars.
With 22 teams combining to bring more than 300 players to Disney for the resumption of the season, Leonard and others have turned to social media to document life in the bubble. But very few have done it like the Heat’s 28-year-old center.
The latest? After New Orleans Pelicans guard JJ Redick took on the challenge of shotgunning a beer, Leonard one-upped him and chugged a can of Coors Light in less than three seconds in a video posted onto his social media platforms Sunday.
“King of the Bubble. Accepting all challengers,” Leonard wrote on Twitter after posting the beerchugging video.
This comes after Leonard’s
eventful hour-long Instagram Live session Wednesday night, which was the Heat’s first day on the NBA campus. In his room at the the Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Leonard (7 feet, 260 pounds) placed a room service order — all on Instagram Live — that included lobster bisque, a hamburger, chicken strips, french fries and four Coors Lights.
“The Instagram Lives, I don’t normally do a ton of them,” Leonard said recently during a Zoom call with reporters, as the Heat took a day off from practice Monday following three consecutive days of court work to kick off the Disney experience. “But I know that people want to see what’s going on. That’s not me trying to hack into this giving of content. But people thought the room service call was funny.
“To me, it’s just keeping me entertained, No. 1. But No. 2, it’s interacting with fans and kind of giving them an inside look into the bubble and just continuing to give people what they want.”
There’s also the Twitch video platform, where Leonard is known for streaming his “Call of Duty” gaming adventures. Leonard brought his full PC gaming setup to his Disney hotel room.
“It’s incredibly important,” Leonard said of streaming on Twitch. “I
FaceTime with my wife numerous times throughout the day, and all my best friends back home and everything. But honestly, the reason I started streaming on Twitch was for a few reasons. Mainly, because I do really enjoy gaming and also I enjoy interacting with fans. It’s funny, sometimes people will come into my chat and say, ‘Well, I gotta be honest, I would be nervous to come up to you in person due to your height or whatever it may be. But I feel comfortable in your chat.’ So I’ve tried to build a really authentic and fun community.”
Leonard, who is an impending free agent, has said multiple times that he hopes to remain with the Heat beyond this season. In his first season with Miami, Leonard has averaged 6.1 points while shooting 52 percent from the field and 42.9 percent on threes, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 20.1 minutes over 49 games (all starts).
Despite Leonard’s active social media presence, he doesn’t expect to be too active inside the bubble. For Leonard, he says his time on the NBA campus will be dedicated to basketball, with most of his offtime spent spent gaming.
The Heat is guaranteed to spend at least nearly two months inside the bubble since it has already clinched a spot in the playoffs, which begin Aug. 17. After three scrimmages in
July, Miami begins its eight-game seeding schedule Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
“I’m kind of a homebody, man,” he said. “Like even in Miami, I work out, I have a chef, so I don’t really have to leave for food. I play games at the arena. I hang out with my wife and dog. And I play video games. I stream on Twitch. I don’t really need to get out. I stream in my room, I come to practice, I go do rehab. We have team meetings. And then I do it all over again. To me, this process, I don’t think I’m going to be bothered by it.
“I’m just going to go ahead and state that there’s going to be ups and downs and there are going to be times when I miss my wife and dog and I wish I was in my own bed. But the reality is we’re NBA players. We’re blessed to do what we do.”