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.”
Herro added. “I usually don’t clear sh*t up, but I don’t like dude from The Athletic either.”
In speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Herro acknowledged that he cleared it up this morning but wanted to emphasize that he was “Obviously taken out of context.”
“I was asked a question after Game 2, I believe,” Herro said. “But the question was asked as if it was February or January or December when that stuff was going on. I don’t care if we were 0-82; I would never come out and say I need someone else to win. That’s just my personality. That’s just who I am as a competitor. I think I can do it, obviously, with my teammates and coaching staff. But, I would never come out and say I need somebody to win in this league.”
Tyler Herro might not have officially confirmed his alt account, but he’s definitely using it like a burner, and one with a purpose. He’s setting the record straight and calling out coverage he thinks is twisted, or “goofy,” as he put it.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.