SAN ANTONIO — The NBA deemed that Patrick Beverley’s “history of unsportsmanlike acts” played a major role in the Lakers point guard being suspended for three games without pay for “forcefully shoving” Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton from behind and knocking him to the Footprint Center court during a loss Tuesday, the league announced Thursday.
While Beverley will begin serving his suspension Friday night when the Lakers take on the San Antonio Spurs in the first of back-to-back games here, Los Angeles is awaiting the return of LeBron James, who has missed the last five games because of a left adductor strain.
Beverley, who will also miss Saturday night’s game here against the Spurs and Monday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers at Crypto.com Arena, admitted after the game Tuesday night that his behavior was “very unprofessional” and answered, “yeah, for sure,” when asked if he expected the NBA to take action against him.
