Patrick Beverley found himself in hot water last week.
The Bucks guard earned countless NBA fans’ rancor after chucking a ball into the stands multiple times during Milwaukee’s Game 6 loss to the Pacers on Thursday night.
It was a polarizing decision, to say the least. Beverley struck at least one fan in the head with his strike, prompting security to step in. It was rumored that fans behind the Bucks’ bench had yelled out obscenities toward Beverley and his teammates, further inflaming the situation.
PatBev just chucked the ball at a fan at the end of the game. pic.twitter.com/UKrliCZUF7
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) May 3, 2024
On Tuesday, Beverley had his say on the matter. In clips released from his eponymous podcast, he talked about the circumstances that led him to fire the basketball toward the concourses last week.
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What did the Pacers fan say to Patrick Beverley?
According to Beverley, the Pacers fans who Beverley threw the ball toward said things that “crossed the line.”
“Let’s just say it was more than just ‘Cancun on 3,'” Beverley said.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the immediate spark to Beverley’s feud with the Pacers fan he threw the ball toward was the “Cancún…Cancún on 3” comment.
Beverley indicated that a few Indiana fans took things too far during Thursday night’s contest. However, he was able to make amends with most of them, telling spectators to refrain from being disrespectful toward him. That wasn’t quite the case with the group of fans he struck with his throw.
Nevertheless, Beverley apologized for the incident, telling his co-host that he never should have put himself in that position in the first place.
“What I did was bad, and that should have never happened,” Beverley said. “I have to be better and I will be better. … Regardless of what was said, that should have never happened.”
This post will be updated if Beverley says more on the matter when the full podcast is released.
Did the NBA suspend Patrick Beverley?
At present, the NBA is investigating Beverley’s actions at the end of Thursday’s game, as well as his interaction with ESPN producer Malinda Adams in the locker room after the Bucks’ season-ending loss.
Additionally, the Indianapolis police are investigating incident, per Shams Charania and Mike Vorkunov. The police are working with the Gainbridge Fieldhouse to review the footage.
Indianapolis Police is investigating the incident between Patrick Beverley and a fan during Game 6 of Bucks-Pacers series; detectives confirm to me and @MikeVorkunov they are working with Gainbridge Fieldhouse to review video footage and plan to speak with the parties involved.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 8, 2024
It’s unclear quite whether Beverley will be suspended. On one hand, he didn’t receive a penalty during the game. However, the league has tended to take a hardline stance about interactions between players and fans in the aftermath of the Malice in the Palace back in 2003.
For example, in 2019, then-Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas was suspended two games without pay for walking into the stands to calmly address two 76ers fans who made obscene gestures and fired obscenities toward Thomas.
