Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley was criticized for violently throwing a basketball at fans during the team’s Game 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers Thursday night.
Beverley was sitting on the bench when he stood up and launched a basketball at a female Pacers fan sitting behind the team’s bench, hitting the fan in the head.
He appeared to motion to have the ball back, and when it was returned, he again threw the ball at another fan, who was able to deflect it.
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Patrick Beverley of the Milwaukee Bucks dribbles against the Indiana Pacers during Game 6 of the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs May 2, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
Coaches and other players stepped in in an attempt to defuse the situation, but Beverley appeared to continue to exchange words with the fans sitting behind him.
Less than a week later, Beverley says it was an “unfortunate situation that should have never happened.”
“What I did was bad, and that should have never happened. I have to be better, and I will be better. And that should have never happened,” Beverley said on his podcast. “Regardless of what was said, that should have never happened. Simple as that.”
Initial reports say it came after a fan said “Cancun on three,” but Beverley says it was “more than that” and was called a name that apparently is NSFW.
“I’ve been called a lot of stuff in this league, I haven’t been called that one,” he said. “Still inexcusable. It doesn’t matter what was said. I have to be better, and I will be better.”
Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley (21) dribbles the ball while Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) defends during Game 6 of the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Trevor Ruszkowski/USA Today Sports)
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Beverley said security had come up to him earlier in the game and asked if he wanted certain fans ejected, but he declined, saying he actually doesn’t even want fans kicked out for simple trash talk.
“I’m not getting no fans kicked out. People who spend money to watch us play. I’m not getting them kicked out,” Beverley said.
However, this certain fan “crossed the line.”
“We in layup line. I’m on the bench with the ball. Fan to the right of me say something crazy. I get up to him, ‘Hey, man, you can boo me but don’t call me that.’ I go shake (Pacers coach) Rick Carlisle’s hand, fan say something crazy to me. I’m looking like, man, you can say anything, just don’t be disrespectful. He apologized too. Everyone who stepped out of line and said something like too crazy, all of them apologized. It was just some people crossed the line a little bit.”
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Patrick Beverley gets past the Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton during the first half of Game 1 of the NBA playoffs April 21, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
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Beverley later joked that he “ain’t bringing a basketball on the bench no more, man.”
The Bucks dropped the first-round series to the Pacers, who now trail the New York Knicks, 1-0, in the second round.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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