The NBA has suspended Patrick Beverley for four games without pay for “forcefully throwing a basketball multiple times at spectators and an inappropriate interaction with a reporter during media availability,” the NBA announced Thursday.
The suspension will be enforced at the start of the next regular season. Beverley is a free agent this offseason, although missing four regular season games isn’t going to deter a team that wants the 35-year-old point guard.
It could have been worse — Beverley hit an innocent bystander in the head with a ball.
The incident occurred late in the fourth quarter of the game in Indiana, where the Bucks were eliminated — a frustrated Beverley fired a ball at a fan in the crowd, missing his intended target but hitting a woman in the head. A Pacers fan — the one who reportedly had been engaging with Beverley and the Bucks bench — stood up and tossed the ball back to him and said something, then Beverley fired the ball at that fan.
altercation between pat bev and pacers fans behind the bench pic.twitter.com/dfQpqSBv33
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) May 3, 2024
That was not the only incident that got Beverley in trouble with the league.
After that same game, during his media availability, Beverley told ESPN’s Malinda Adams she could not ask him a question because she doesn’t subscribe to his podcast, and he pushed her mic away and asked her to leave. Apparently, this is nothing new, but the NBA is not good with players disrespecting media members over something as trivial as a podcast subscription.
Beverley started last season with the 76ers but was traded mid-season to a Bucks team in need of an edge and defensive spark, things Beverley still brings. That edge he brings got out of control and cost in at the end of Game 6.
