Tyler Herro Takes Aim At Reporter From The Athletic

Why Tyler Herro has an alt Instagram is for Tyler Herro to answer — and Tyler Herro alone.

Sure, the Miami Heat guard is entitled to his privacy. But he hasn’t exactly denied ownership of the secondary account in question. In fact, he’s used it — intentionally or not — to clear a few things up.

Chief among them: he’s not a fan of “dude from The Athletic.”

That “dude” would be Jared Weiss, a staff writer who covers the Boston Celtics for the New York Times-owned outlet. Weiss recently wrote a piece titled “Tyler Herro wanted to be Heat’s No. 1 option. Now he’s learning how hard it is.” The article was published on April 26 and updated three days later.

Herro didn’t name Weiss directly, but he didn’t need to. It’s not hard to connect the dots.

After being swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers, which led to people like Stephen A. Smith calling for Pat Riley to step down, the Heat are at a crossroads. It’s the same crossroads Herro faced prior to Game 3, when he spoke to The Athletic and grappled with the idea of Butler never forcing his way out.

“Obviously, I know I need Jimmy to win. If we had Jimmy right now, I feel like it’d be a completely different situation,” Herro told The Athletic before Game 3. “We probably wouldn’t even be the eighth seed. So finding that middle balance of like, damn, we need him, but also understanding, sh–, that’s his career and what he wants is ultimately his right to want what he wants. It was just tough to be in the middle of both sides.”

But for one reason or another, Herro didn’t seem too pleased with how those quotes were framed.

“Dude asked me a question in the timeframe of Jan-Feb when the ‘Jimmy Saga’ was happening,” Herro wrote on his @wonderdidit account on Instagram. “I said I had come into the season thinking I was playing off of Jimmy, to him getting [traded], and I had to switch my mindset from needing Jimmy to me being the lead guy, and I spoke about the things I learned [from] JB. Never said I need anyone to win games. Y’all trippin, [and] buddy from The Athletic who wrote the article is goofy.”