MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Basketball Association has banned Petron import Renaldo Balkman for life as a result of his in-game outburst.
In a swift, decisive move by PBA Commissioner Chito Salud, Balkman is banned from playing in the PBA and will be fined Php 250,000 for his bizarre emotional outburst in the dying seconds of Petron’s 73-83 loss to Alaska last Friday.
Balkman made a direct contact with the referee in pleading his case for what he perceived as a non-call after airballing his shot against Alaska import Robert Dozier and Cyrus Baguio. The former Puerto Rican national team stalwart then pushed away Petron assistant coach Biboy Ravanes, who tried to pacify him then also did the same to his teammates Ronald Tubid and Arwind Santos.
The former first round choice of the New York Knicks, who also played for Denver Nuggets, was held down to his personal-worst six points in that loss after averaging 28.2 points per game in Petron’s first six games.
The Boosters lost to the Aces, 73-83.
The tense situation turned to one of the worst emotional outbursts the PBA has ever seen when Balkman grabbed Santos by the neck when the latter pushed him back.
The 6-6 import has since patched things up with Santos. But while he was remorseful, the PBA chieftain looked for the interest of the league and its fans by handing down the decision.
The import has apologized for the incident.