Former NBA player Patrick Beverley has been sued by two Indiana Pacers fans who say they suffered “physical, mental and emotional damage” after being struck by a ball he threw into the stands twice during a game last year.
Indiana residents Jessica Simmons and Katie Lanciotti filed the lawsuit Friday in Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis. In it, they separately bring counts of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy by false light and defamation against Beverley, who was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks during Game 6 of a first-round playoff series against the host Indiana Pacers at the time of the May 2 incident.
As a result of Beverley’s actions, the lawsuit states, the women suffered injuries and damages that include physical pain and suffering, emotional and mental distress, humiliation, anguish, medical expenses and lost work hours/wages.
Beverley briefly mentioned the lawsuit at the beginning of this week’s episode of “The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone,” which was recorded Tuesday and posted Wednesday.
“I woke up this morning, found out I was getting sued first. Yeah, that’s what my first thing was,” said Beverley, who played four seasons with the Clippers and had a brief stint with the Lakers during his 12-year NBA career. “I’m out here looking for an NBA job and found out I was getting sued so that didn’t make me feel a little type of way.”
Asked how he learned about the lawsuit, Beverley said: “I found out through — like, I felt like it was a trade. I seen my name. ‘I signed somewhere?’ ‘No, you’ve been sued.’ ‘Ah, OK, got it.’ That’s all I’m gonna speak about on that side though.”
“I thought it was over with though. I sent my apologies and … wanted to do a free basketball camp in Indy,” he added. “Thought it was over with but … like a year later, sued. Wow.”
The incident took place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Standing in front of his seat on the Bucks bench, Beverley threw the ball with two hands into the stands. It hit a woman in the head, although she did not appear to have been the intended target.
“Beverley threw the basketball directly at and into the side of Katie Lanciotti’s head, hard enough that it broke the necklace that she was wearing,” the lawsuit states. “Ms. Lanciotti experienced immediate pain and soreness as a result of being struck by the basketball.”
Another fan tossed the ball back to Beverley, who immediately fired it right back at him. The ball deflected off the fan and hit another woman, identified in the lawsuit as Simmons.
“On this next occasion, the basketball struck Jessica Simmons in her chest and face, causing immediate pain and soreness as a result of being struck by the basketball,” the complaint states.
After the game, Beverley kicked an ESPN reporter out of his interview for not subscribing to his podcast. He received a four-game suspension from the NBA for both incidents, although he has yet to serve it because he hasn’t played in the league this season.
Later that night on X, Beverley suggested that he and his teammates had been provoked by Pacers fans throughout Indiana’s series-clinching victory.
“Not Fair at all,” wrote Beverley, who most recently played for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League before the sides parted ways earlier this month. “Exchanged between a fan and our ball club all night. We warned and asked for help all night. Not fair.”
“But,” he added in a separate post hours later, “I have to be better. And I will.”
Beverley also addressed the situation days later on his podcast, saying there were “four or five fans” who “took it a little bit too far.”
“I’ve been called a ton of stuff,” he said. “I haven’t been called that one.”
The lawsuit states that “Beverley’s social media and Podcast comments implied that” Simmons and Lanciotti “used derogatory language and /or racial slurs toward Mr. Beverley.”
“Beverley’s comments proximately caused [the plaintiffs] to suffer damage to [their] reputation, esteem, respect, and good will and caused publicly negative feelings, accusations, and opinions about [them],” the lawsuit added.
Simmons and Lanciotti are seeking unspecified damages.
Then-Bucks assistant coach Josh Oppenheimer, who is now an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, is also named as a defendant. He is accused of incitement by both plaintiffs. The Bucks are also named as co-defendants, with all 10 counts against their former employees also brought against the team.
Oppenheimer declined to comment Tuesday. The Bucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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