Antoine Walker says when Pat Riley is 'done with you,' it happens publicly: 'It never stays in-house'

03/15/2025 03:33 PM

Veteran forward Jimmy Butler recently became the latest star player to see his stint with the Miami Heat come to an end on a sour note.

Butler asked to be traded and eventually was, but not before a long stretch of drama ensued. As part of that stretch, the Heat handed Butler multiple suspensions, and the forward lost out on a lot of money as a result.

Former Heat forward Antoine Walker recently claimed that when longtime team president Pat Riley is “done with you,” it happens publicly.

“I love Pat,” Walker said when asked what comes to mind when he thinks of Riley. “I mean, just — he’s a disciplinarian. He likes to do things his way. And one thing about Pat, if you notice it, if you look at the trend and you guys follow, when he’s kinda done with you, he does it publicly. I mean, this is even back dating to D-Wade (Dwyane Wade), Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), Jimmy, myself.

“I mean, it never stays in-house, and he just makes the move, and he kinda does it publicly. I didn’t like the Jimmy situation because you shouldn’t have to start fining guys for their money and taking their money away like that. I think if you wanna part ways and move him, there’s ways you can do that.

“But to take his money and those things to kinda put this bad light on him is tough. That’s why I’m so happy Jimmy’s playing really well in Golden State and kinda turned their season around. … I think neither one of those guys handled it the right way.”

Walker carved out a stint in the twilight of his NBA career with the Heat. He was no longer the player he was with the Boston Celtics but still served as a productive role player for Miami. Across 160 total regular-season games in a Heat uniform, he averaged 10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

He was an important part of the Heat team that won the first title in franchise history in 2006. Walker averaged the third-most points per game on the team behind only Wade and O’Neal in the 2006 NBA Playoffs.

But in October of 2007, the Heat traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Walker fell out of favor with Riley (who was also the Heat’s head coach at the time) leading up to him being dealt, in large part due to conditioning issues.

So in the end, Walker only played one more season in a Heat uniform after playing such a crucial role in the team’s title run in 2006.

The 48-year-old is probably as well-equipped as anyone to speak on how Riley treats his players who have fallen out of favor with him because like Butler, his time in Miami came to a close in a messy way. Hopefully, the likes of big man Bam Adebayo and guard Tyler Herro will not see their Heat stints end in a similar fashion.

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