Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley is being sued for chucking a basketball at a pair of Indiana Pacers fans during Game 6 of last year’s first-round playoff series with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Lawsuit Names Patrick Beverley, Milwaukee Bucks, And Former Bucks Assistant Coach Josh Oppenheimer As Defendants
While at Milwaukee’s bench, Beverley was filmed throwing the ball into the Pacers crowd twice at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the closing minutes of the Bucks’ 120-98 loss to Indiana on May 2, 2024.
In a lawsuit filed last Friday in Marion County Superior Court, two Pacers fans claim they experienced medical expenses, mental anguish, humiliation, and lost wages after the incident.
“Shortly thereafter, Beverley walked to the end of the bench and secured a basketball that was nearby,” the suit reads. “He turned his eyes and attention to the spectators behind the Bucks’ bench and made the decision to engage in grossly inappropriate conduct.”
The lawsuit names Patrick Beverley, the Bucks organization, and former Milwaukee assistant coach Josh Oppenheimer as defendants. Two women, Jessica Simmons and Katie Lanciotti, are the plaintiffs. The women did not know each other prior to the incident.
According to TMZ Sports, Simmons claims she was hit in the chest and had trouble breathing after the contact. EMTs were called to administer aid, with her blood pressure and pulse testing “extremely high.”
Lanciotti claims Beverley’s ball was thrown with so much force that it broke her necklace. This led to her experiencing immediate pain and soreness.
Plaintiffs Did Not Specify The Amount They’re Suing For
The women claim Beverley admitted he was in the wrong when he later apologized for his actions on his podcast. However, in that same apology, they claim Beverley lied when he accused them of trash talk.
Simmons and Lanciotti did not specify the amount they’re suing for, but in addition to recouping medical expenses, the cost of lost work, and other actual damages, they also want a judge to impose punitive damages.
The fans’ lawsuit claims that Beverley’s actions “constitute a rude, insolent or angry touching resulting in tortious Battery and harmful and offensive contact.” The suit states that his actions were “grossly negligent, willful and wanton, and intentional.”
Video from the game that was posted on social media showed Bucks center Brook Lopez walking to the bench as Beverley held a basketball in the corner of the screen. Beverley then hurled the ball into the stands.
Initially, the ball thrown by Beverley strikes a woman sitting near the court in her head. A fan sitting near the woman then lobs the ball back to the Bucks guard before Beverley again throws an aggressive chest pass into the stands.
NBA Levied A Four-Game Suspension Against Beverley
The NBA suspended Patrick Beverley for four games after the incident, but he has yet to serve it, as he signed a deal to play professionally overseas for Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv.
After the game, Beverley also refused to talk to an ESPN reporter who said she wasn’t subscribed to his podcast. He later pushed the woman’s microphone away before telling her to leave the press pool.
The league cited both the “forceful” ball-throwing incident and the “inappropriate interaction with a reporter during media availability” as reasons for the suspension in a news release.
