Guard Patrick Beverley of the Milwaukee Bucks received backlash for hurling a basketball aggressively at spectators on Thursday night during the team’s Game 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

When Beverley got up from his bench to throw a basketball at a female Pacers fan seated behind the team’s bench, the fan was struck in the head.

After making what appeared to be a motion to get the ball back, he threw it at another fan, who managed to deflect it. 

On May 2, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, during Game 6 of the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Milwaukee Bucks’ Patrick Beverley dribbles against the Indiana Pacers. (Source: Getty Images / Jeff Haynes/NBAE)

While coaches and other players intervened to try to diffuse the tension, Beverley seemed to carry on conversing with the supporters seated 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.”

In Game 6 of the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) defends the ball while Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley (21) dribbles it. (USA Today Sports/Trevor Ruszkowski)

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Beverley claimed that earlier in the game, security had approached him and asked if he wanted any particular fans removed. He said that he didn’t even want fans removed for making crude remarks.

“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.”

In the first half of Game 1 of the NBA playoffs on April 21, 2024, in Milwaukee, Patrick Beverley of the Milwaukee Bucks outmuscles Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers. (Photo by Morry Gash/AP)

After that, Beverley made a joke saying, “Man, ain’t bringing a basketball on the bench no more.”

The Pacers, who are currently 1-0 behind the New York Knicks in the second round, defeated the Bucks in their first-round series.