Miami Heat’s Pat Riley Fined $25k For Telling LeBron James There’s A ‘Key Under The Mat’ If He Wants To Come Back To Miami

Miami Heat President Pat Riley got himself in some trouble over some remarks he made about LeBron James over the weekend.

On Friday, Riley appeared on Dan LeBatard’s “FreeDumb” stream and jokingly remarked that he would leave the “key under the mat” for LeBron if he ever wanted to come back to Miami.

“I would leave the key under the doormat if he would call and let me know he’s coming,” Riley said. “I would do that, but I doubt very much if that key…that key’s rusted now.” “I wish him nothing but the best,” “And if he ever wanted to come back, then I’ll put a new shiny key under that mat.”

Riley immediately knew he was going to get in trouble with the NBA over the comments.

“This will just get me fined for tampering”

Riley was right. Just a few days after the interview the league fined Riley $25k for violating the NBA’s anti-tampering rules for his comments on LeBatard’s stream.

Getting fined $25k to let LeBron know that he’s welcome to return to the Heat seems like a fair trade.