The Los Angeles Clippers will enter next season without Patrick Beverley. It was reported earlier this week that the team’s ultra-passionate point guard would face a suspension to start the 2021-22 campaign, and on Saturday afternoon, the NBA announced that would end up being the case. The good news for L.A., though, is that Beverley won’t miss an extended period of time.
The league announced that Beverley’s shove on Chris Paul during Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, which the Clippers lost to end their year altogether, will cost him the first game of next season that he’s eligible to play in — i.e., if Beverley is out with an injury to start the year, those games will not count. The infraction was officially referred to as “an unsportsmanlike act for forcefully pushing … Paul from behind and knocking him to the court during a stoppage in play.”
The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/5zaKpoFiGr
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) July 3, 2021
A day after the incident, Beverley took to Twitter to apologize to Paul and wished him and the Suns good luck as they play for a championship.
@CP3 emotions got the best of me last night gang. My bad wasn’t meant for you. Congrats on making it to the Finals. Best of Luck 🤞🏾
— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) July 1, 2021
There’s no word on whether or not Beverley would attempt to appeal the ruling, but it would make sense if he decided it ultimately wasn’t worth the headache and just started his regular season 48 minutes later than everyone else.
