The Los Angeles Clippers opened the 2019-20 season with a huge win over their crosstown rival Lakers. They were pumped. The non-Lakers fans in the crowd were pumped. Patrick Beverley was pumped.
The win just cost the Clippers guard a hefty sum of money.
As time was winding down, Beverley opted to throw the basketball into the stands rather than hand the ball to the official. Now, a regulation NBA basketball retails for $120. It’s an expensive basketball, but the Staples Center staff probably could have retrieved that ball if they were so set on preserving the basketball inventory for a multibillion-dollar franchise.
They did not retrieve the ball, and the cost of celebrating a win by tossing a $120 ball into a crowd of people is apparently a $25,000 fine at the NBA level.
Beverley would’ve had every right to be upset about that fine — because that’s just math — but a direct message from a Clippers fan managed to help him feel better about that lost $25K.
The fans who caught that basketball reached out to Beverley on Instagram and told him that they felt bad that he was disciplined for the celebration. They also wanted him to know that they were longtime season-ticket holders and catching that basketball left them with an unforgettable moment.
See: Look how happy that guy was.
Upon seeing that message, Beverley said that he wasn’t going to change … nor should he. There’s nothing wrong with giving fans a souvenir.
