Myron Gardner gets Anthony Edwards’ attention from Heat bench: ‘That’s Myron’

Miami Heat wing Myron Gardner is becoming known as one of the NBA’s ultimate trash talkers from the bench.

Read more Haiti to play home-designated match vs. USA at Nu Stadium

Just one year ago, Gardner made headlines for drawing a reaction from then-Dallas Mavericks and now-Heat guard Klay Thompson by calling him “trash” and a “bum” from Miami’s bench.

In Wednesday night’s season-opening 131-106 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Kaseya Center, Gardner went at Timberwolves star guard Anthony Edwards from the Heat’s bench.

“A player on their bench was talking trash on one of the dead-ball situations,” Edwards said after scoring 45 points to lead the Timberwolves past the Heat on Wednesday. “And I think it kind of crunked me up because he was talking pretty crazy. And then when I started talking to him, he didn’t really have too much more to say.

“And I don’t really like that. If you’re going to talk s—, keep talking s—. Don’t get quiet. So I think that was pretty much the reason why I was super intense tonight.”

When asked if it was Gardner who was doing the talking, Edwards quipped: “I don’t know his name.”

But the Heat confirmed it was Gardner who was doing the talking when the team declined to make him available to speak to the media following Thursday’s practice.

However, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra addressed Gardner’s in-game chatter with Edwards.

“I love Myron’s competitive spirit, and he wants to infuse energy into the group,” Spoelstra said after Thursday’s practice in preparation for Friday’s matchup against the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center (8 p.m., WPLG Local 10). “You also have to be smart about it. I particularly don’t want him talking trash to the other team’s best scorers, especially when he’s not out there. But he’s got a good heart. He means the right thing. He’ll be better.”

Gardner, 25, was not in the Heat’s rotation for Wednesday’s opener. He only entered the contest when Miami emptied its bench late in the lopsided defeat with 3:14 left in the fourth quarter.

“That’s Myron. Myron did it to Klay, and now they’re teammates,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said of Gardner’s trash talk from the bench. “But it’s all part of the game. Obviously, their bench was talking to us. We just weren’t making shots.”

Gardner entered the season with $500,000 of his $2.2 million salary guaranteed. His full salary for the season becomes guaranteed on Jan. 10.

Read more What Dolphins OC, QB coach are saying about Willis, attempt to fix pass offense

“I love that,” Edwards said of the back and forth with Gardner. “I love that aspect of the game. That fuels me every time.”

Foul trouble

Thompson was limited to just 16 minutes in Wednesday’s opener because of foul trouble.

Thompson started his Heat regular-season debut, but he was called for two fouls within the first three minutes of the game. And he continued to battle foul trouble throughout the contest.

But Spoelstra insisted that Thompson’s foul trouble did not impact the Heat’s rotation on Wednesday.

“I played him through it in that first quarter,” Spoelstra said. “We were just trying to get a hold of any kind of unit that could give us some of our defensive presence.

“They started really making shots, and I think that took away from our mental focus on both ends of the court. We stopped running. We stopped getting to what we’d like to do in our flow. And then defensively we never really got to the disruptiveness that we wanted to.”

Thompson, who agreed to a buyout with the Dallas Mavericks before joining the Heat in free agency this past offseason, finished his first regular season game in a Heat uniform with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range.

Another TV option

FUBO announced Thursday that it will begin carrying Heat games on WPLG Local 10 for the remainder of the season.

But four providers that dropped WPLG haven’t yet signed up to carry the station again. Those four are Dish Network, YouTube TV, DirecTV streaming and Hulu.

WPLG says there are ongoing conversations with some of those providers.

▪ The Heat’s entire roster is expected to be available for Friday’s matchup against the Pistons.

The Pistons’ only standard contract rotation player on the injury report is forward Taurean Prince, who is probable due to personal reasons. The rest of Detroit’s standard roster is expected to be available to play against the Heat.

Read more Miami Herald High School Athlete of the Week 8: Vanessa Camacho of American Heritage volleyball

This story was originally published October 22, 2026 at 1:48 PM.