The NBA suspended free agent guard Patrick Beverley for four games without pay for angrily hurling a basketball into the stands during his team’s season-ending loss, officials said Thursday.
As Beverley’s Milwaukee Bucks were being eliminated by the host Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of the their series last week, he threw a basketball into seats behind the visitors bench.
The ball appeared to hit a fan in the face and when the ball got lobbed back to Beverley, he threw it into the crowd again.
In his “Pat Bev Podcast” on Tuesday, the temperamental player admitted to being at fault.
“Unfortunate situation that should’ve never happened,” he said. “What I did was bad, and that should have never happened. I have to be better and I will be better. That should have never happened, regardless of what was said, simple as that.”
After the game where the ball was hurled, Beverley refused to answer questions from ESPN producer Malinda Adams.
Beverley, 35, is an unrestricted free agent so his next team would, presumably, be forced keep him off the team for four regular season games.
The NBA took more severe action against Beverley than against Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray, who on Monday threw a heat pack onto the court during the Nuggets’ playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The object landed in the feet of Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns and near teammates Reggie Jackson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Murray was fined $100,000 for the incident, but has not faced suspension.
