NBA suspends Patrick Beverley for four games without pay

The NBA has suspended dollar guard Patrick Beverley four games without pay for “repeatedly forcibly throwing a basketball at spectators and an inappropriate interaction with a reporter during media availability,” the league announced Thursday (Twitter link).

Since Beverley is an impending free agent, it is not yet known how much he will be fined, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). If he manages to get a new contract, Beverley will serve the ban at the start of the 2024/25 season.

The incidents in question occurred a week ago, both during and after Milwaukee’s Game 6 loss to Indiana. The loss ended the Bucks’ season.

Late in the fourth quarter, Beverley initially threw a ball that appeared to miss its target, a male Pacers fan, and instead hit an unsuspecting woman in the side of the head (Twitter video link). When the male fan retrieved the ball and lightly threw it back to Beverley, he immediately threw it back at the male fan with significantly greater force.

The Athletic subsequently reported that a fan – believed to be the male fan – directed obscenities at Beverley in the lead-up to the incident. Yesterday, The Athletic reported that Indianapolis police were investigating the altercation. It is unclear whether criminal charges will be filed.

The second incident in question occurred when Beverley became agitated with ESPN producer Malinda Adams because she did not subscribe to his podcast (Twitter video link). After explaining that she could not attend his media session for this reason, he subsequently pushed her microphone away and later asked her to leave the circle of reporters around his locker.

The 35 year old allegedly had told members of the media that they could only interview him if they subscribed to his podcast since Milwaukee acquired him from Philadelphia in a deadline deal.

“Patrick Beverley’s behavior toward ESPN producer Malinda Adams was unacceptable, unprofessional and did not meet the standard that NBA players always meet when dealing with the media” said NBA spokesman Tim Frank, according to Howard Beck of The Ringer (Twitter link).

Beverley and the Bucks reached out to Adams the next day to apologize.