NBA suspends Bucks' Beverley for four games
The NBA has suspended Bucks guard Patrick Beverley for four games without pay for throwing a basketball multiple times at fans and "an inappropriate interaction" with an ESPN producer after Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers last week.
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Bucks guard Patrick Beverley was suspended for four games without pay for throwing a basketball multiple times at fans and for an "inappropriate interaction" with ESPN producer Malinda Adams after Milwaukee's season-ending loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of their first-round series last week, the NBA announced Thursday.
Indianapolis police announced Wednesday they were opening an investigation into "an NBA player and citizen" altercation, after Beverley threw a ball multiple times in the fourth quarter of what ultimately became a 120-98 loss to the Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse a week ago.
Cameras showed Beverley throwing a ball into the stands, where it hit a fan in the head. After he asked for the ball back, and had it thrown back to him, he then fired it back at that fan.
Police said in a news release the case has been forwarded to detectives "who are currently investigating this situation and take all accusations seriously," and that the case will be presented to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office after the investigation is completed.
In an episode of "The Pat Bev Podcast" released Wednesday, Beverley said he was called a word that he'd never been called before but added that his own 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, who was on a minimum contract this season with the Philadelphia 76ers and then the Bucks, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He would lose roughly $90,000 as a result of the suspension if he signs a minimum contract again next season, which is projected to be $3.3 million, per ESPN's Bobby Marks.
After the game, Beverley wouldn't allow 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 eventually asked her to leave the interview circle.
On his podcast Wednesday, 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."
Tim Frank, the NBA's senior vice president of league operations communications, said in a statement that, "Patrick Beverley's behavior towards ESPN producer Malinda Adams was unacceptable, unprofessional and failed to meet the standard that NBA players consistently meet in their interactions with the media."
This isn't the first time that Beverley, who just completed his 12th season in the NBA, has been suspended at the conclusion of a campaign. In 2021, he was hit with a one-game suspension while playing for the LA Clippers after shoving Chris Paul in the back as both players were walking to their respective benches late in the fourth quarter of a blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals.
He served that suspension in the opener of the 2021-22 season as a result.
Beverley, who will turn 36 in July, averaged 8.2 points and 5.5 assists across the six games against Indiana in the playoffs, starting all of them.
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MILWAUKEE -- — Rhys Hoskins, Jake Bauers and Joey Ortiz each homered to cool Sonny Gray as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the slumping St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 on Thursday night.
It was the fifth straight loss for the Cardinals, who opened a four-game series with the NL Central-leading Brewers. Milwaukee has won its last six against St. Louis, a streak that began last season.
Milwaukee's William Contreras and Christian Yelich each went 3 of 4. Jared Koenig (4-1) pitched two scoreless innings of relief and worked his way out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth.
Gray (4-2) has been one of the last-place Cardinals’ few bright spots since signing a three-year, $75 million contract in the offseason, but the 2023 AL Cy Young Award runner-up couldn’t stop St. Louis’ slide.
Through his first five starts, Gray allowed a total of six runs, and only three were earned. His 0.89 ERA was the lowest since 1910 by any Cardinals pitcher in his first five appearances with the organization.
The Brewers scored six runs off Gray on Thursday during his five-inning stint. Gray had given up just one homer all year before the Brewers went deep against him three times.
“I thought we had the best approach we’ve ever had (against Gray), and I've seen him pitch against us many times,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
That approach was apparent.
“They swung early at my fastball and didn’t miss,” Gray said. “That doesn’t happen a ton. It happened tonight.”
Milwaukee took the lead for good by scoring three runs in the first inning. It was the first time this season Gray had allowed a run before the fifth.
A two-out wild pitch from Gray brought home Contreras. Hoskins followed with a two-run homer over the wall in right-center field.
Hoskins' dog, Mae, was watching from the stands as part of the Brewers' “Bark at the Park” promotion.
“She’s coming back, I promise you that,” Hoskins said.
Bauers extended the lead to 4-0 by leading off the second with a 417-foot shot into the second deck of the right-field stands. After St. Louis’ Lars Nootbaar homered in the third, Ortiz made it 5-1 by delivering a 408-foot drive to center with two outs in the fourth.
Ortiz, who didn’t play in the Brewers’ 6-4 loss at Kansas City on Wednesday, has homered in each of his last two games.
Hoskins said the Brewers benefited from jumping on fastballs early in the count before Gray could turn to his outstanding breaking pitches. The homers by Bauers and Ortiz both came on first-pitch fastballs.
“I don’t know exactly what the numbers are off the top of my head about damage pitches he throws, but I’m going to guess they’re not breaking balls, just because of how well he can spin the ball,” Hoskins said. “We got some heaters that caught a lot of the plate. We didn’t get a lot of those the last time we faced him in St. Louis.”
The Cardinals wasted a couple of chances to get back into the game.
St. Louis brought the tying run to the plate with no outs in the fourth while trailing 4-1, but Dylan Carlson grounded into a double play and Masyn Winn struck out. The Cardinals then loaded the bases off Tobias Myers to start the fifth, but Koenig came out of the bullpen and got the next three outs without letting anyone score.
“Offensively, there just hasn't been any consistency,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “We've got to figure out a way around that.”
TRAINER'S ROOM
Marmol said “everything went well” in catcher Willson Contreras' surgery Wednesday. Contreras broke his left forearm Tuesday when he was hit by a swing from J.D. Martinez in the Cardinals' 7-5 loss to the New York Mets. Contreras is expected to return sometime after the All-Star break.
UP NEXT
LHP Robert Gasser is expected to make his major league debut for the Brewers on Friday. RHP Lance Lynn (1-0, 3.28) is pitching for the Cardinals.
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