Ex-NBA player banned from Philippines’ Play-for-Play League by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) on Monday after the top American athlete who played in the National Basketball Association lost control in a nationally televised game last Friday.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wXjRmA91RGo[/video]
Renaldo Balkman, a six year NBA veteran who played for the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, will be fined 250,000 Philippine pesos, which is $6,142 U.S. dollars.
Balkman is banned from playing in the Philippine Basketball Association.
The penalties are because he initiated 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,” Chito Salud, PBA commissioner, said in an official statement.
Balkman expressed regret as he appeared before Salud, according to the PBA website.
Salud said that he took into consideration Balkman’s track record as a player, which included “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.”
Salud said that Balkman has an 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.”
He said that he wants passion for the game, but also he wants to firmly instill a culture of accountability among his players.
“If one does something that violates the rules and the norms of sportsmanship and decent behaviour, he will be made accountable,” Salud said.
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