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| Ex-NBA player banned from PBA, fined P250K |
"For initiating threatening physical contact with a referee followed by a prolonged, offensive, belligerent if not aberrant on-court decorum directed toward game officials and his Petron team mates and superiors, including the head coach and assistant coaches, amounting to a blatant and utter disrespect for the game, his own ballclub, the League, the fans and his host country, import player Renaldo Balkman is hereby meted the following penalties: 1. Ban from playing in the Philippine BasketbAll Association; and 2. A fine of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pesos (PhP250,000)," PBA Commissioner Atty. Angelico Salud said in a statement released Monday, March 11.
Salud added: "In arriving at this decision, I took into consideration Balkman's track record as a player, including the head-butting incident during a FIBA-Americas game between Puerto Rico and Venezuela and his altercation with the bench of the Alaska Aces during a pre-Season game in Cebu City. I also took into consideration Balkman's evident disregard for local and the host country's sensibilities highlighted by his choking act on-court in full public view of his own teammate who was trying to pacify him. Stiff as it maybe, this decision upholds the tenets of contextual accountability and the over-all interest of the League and the fans."
In the final minute of the game between the Petron Blaze Boosters and Alaska Aces on Friday night, Boosters import Balkman lost his temper when the referee did not call what for him was a foul. When his teammates tried to pacify him, he pushed them back and grabbed at one teammate's neck. Other players rushed to them to help control the situation.
The former New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets player had earlier apologized for Friday's incident, saying it was "unintentional" and that he just "got caught up in the moment of a very intense game."
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