LAS VEGAS — The irony is that Tyler Herro could have been the one coming out swinging.

Instead, he wound up being the one having to duck for cover when it came to Friday’s incident with former Heat teammate Bam Adebayo, when Adebayo took a swing in a confrontation between the two on hotel practice court.

While that dustup added some spice to the mundane of summer league, with the Heat declining comment beyond acknowledging the incident, Herro felt no need to pull any punches when it came to his departure from the Heat in last month’s trade with the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Instead, Herro, in a private moment with two South Florida beat reporters, including the South Florida Sun Sentinel, accepted the Heat’s logic of the deal, while also accepting he had provided seven seasons of quality play in Miami.

“I saw it coming,” Herro said of the trade, after years of being involved in such speculation. “If any summer, it was going to be this summer. So I was very anticipating this, and obviously not knowing Milwaukee, but kind of figured I was going to get traded this summer.

“I’m excited and happy it’s Milwaukee.”

Which means returning to his hometown — and also being done with his share of the speculation.

“I’m sure there’ll still be rumors in Miami somewhere, or for someone,” he said, with the Heat still in the process of reworking their mix after sending out Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis in the trade for Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis, and then losing Norman Powell in free agency. “I’ve said it, though, it’s like Miami’s an organization that wants to win championships, and they want to compete. We obviously almost got there (with two NBA Finals appearances during Herro’s tenure), we’ve had years where we’ve lost in the first round, we’ve had years where we didn’t make the playoffs.

“I’ve been through every, like, ending of a season, and it makes sense for them to want to get a fresh start, get something, someone like Giannis, and build from there. So it’s understandable.”

That said, Herro said he also felt expectations were met from when he was drafted by the Heat No. 13 out of Kentucky in 2019, which could be why some persnickety social-medial posts followed his departure, including the ones that evoked Adebayo’s ire, the ones questioning Adebayo’s offense and contract value.

“If you drafted a 6-5 white kid with 6-3 wingspan, if y’all would have said that I was going to be an All-Star and average 20 a game for five straight, six straight seasons, people probably would have been like, ‘no, no way,’ right? They wouldn’t believe it. So I feel like I’ve done enough,” Herro said.

“Obviously, we didn’t win the championship, but we competed. We almost climbed to the top of the mountain in different particular years. I appreciate Miami. I appreciate my time there.”

During his courtside interview with South Florida media before the report of the Adebayo incident surfaced, Herro spoke of the level of respect for his Heat tenure, when asked if he was properly appreciated.

“You know what? I think so,” he said. “Because, if you, like, I’m on Twitter, but if you take away Twitter, I’ve never got hate in the city — ever. I’ve been in Miami seven years. Every time I go in the public, people ask me for pictures. People, you know, like, they’re cool to me. No one’s ever hated on me in the city that I’ve witnessed or been a part of.

“Obviously, they’ll talk and do the things on Twitter. But that’s Twitter. I feel appreciated by the people that matter.”

And, yet, coy about his own posts.

Asked about his social-media posts relating to Adebayo, Herro said read into them what you choose. “You’ve seen it,” he said with a grin. Asked about those who were unsure about how those posts should be construed, Herro added, “I don’t know either. I don’t know either.”

Still, no punches thrown from his direction on the way out, beyond the social-media trail that seemingly precipitated the Friday fracas with Adebayo.

In fact, somewhat to the contrary.

“I would be open at some point to end my career there, but it’ll just have to be, it makes sense,” he said of a Miami encore, possibly to hit free agency as soon as next summer, as he now enters another extension window. “No ill will toward the organization.

“They drafted me from Kentucky and they gave me a platform. They gave me an opportunity. They believed in me and it was a great seven years.

“Not many guys in my draft class are still on their (original) teams or anything like that. So, again, I’m just excited and appreciative for everything that’s kind of happened and transpired.”

Including being able to make Miami his home base, something he said would not be changing.

“I’ll probably live in Miami regardless,” he said. “Obviously I’m going to be in Milwaukee during the season. But it’d be more Miami for me. My kids will go to school in Miami. That’s how we’re going to do it.”