MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley was suspended by the NBA on Thursday for four games without pay to begin next season for his actions during and after the final game of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series with the Indiana Pacers.
The league announced the suspension and said Beverley was getting punished for “forcefully throwing a basketball multiple times at spectators and an inappropriate interaction with a reporter during media availability.”
This suspension was handed down one day after Indianapolis police said they were investigating an “NBA player and citizen” altercation that happened during that May 2 game without mentioning anyone by name.
Beverley threw a ball at fans in the closing minutes of Milwaukee’s 120-98 Game 6 loss at Indiana that knocked the Bucks out of the playoffs. Cameras showed him sitting on the bench and tossing a ball into the stands, hitting a fan in the head with about 2 ½ minutes left. After a different fan threw the ball back to Beverley, who was holding his arm out for it, the Bucks guard fired it back at that spectator.
Beverley spoke about his behavior on an episode of “The Pat Bev Podcast” that was released Wednesday. He said he was called a word that he’d never been called before, but added that his actions were “still inexcusable.”
“I will be better,” he said. “I have to be better, and I will be better. That should have never happened. Regardless of what was said, that should have never happened. Simple as that.”
Beverley added the atmosphere in Indiana “was great” aside from “a handful of fans” who crossed the line.
“I ain’t bringing a basketball on the bench no more,” Beverley said. “That … threw my whole vibe off.”
After the game, Beverley wouldn’t allow ESPN journalist Malinda Adams to ask him a question in a group interview in the locker room. He said it was because she didn’t subscribe to his podcast. Beverley told her to get her microphone out of his face and then eventually asked her to leave the interview circle.
The next day, Adams said on X that she had received apologies from both the Bucks and from Beverley himself.
On his podcast, Beverley said he had asked that of reporters who interviewed him ever since he launched his podcast. Beverley said he told Adams that “it was never my intent to disrespect you.”
A day after the game, Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Beverley’s behavior was “not the Milwaukee way or the Bucks way.”
“We’re better than that,” Rivers said. “Pat feels awful about that. He also understands emotionally — this is an emotional game and things happen — unfortunately, you’re judged immediately and he let the emotions get the better of him.”
The Bucks acquired the 35-year-old Beverley from the Philadelphia 76ers at the trade deadline. Beverley was playing on a one-year deal, making him an unrestricted free agent heading into the offseason.