Renaldo Balkman Banned for Life From Phillipine Basketball Association for Choking Teammate

Former New York Knick and Denver Nugget Renaldo Balkman has received a lifetime ban from the Philippine Basketball Association following an ugly incident on Friday after he felt referees missed a foul call against him.

Balkman went up for a shot and thought he was fouled but no whistle came, so he held on to the player who got the rebound and then began yelling at the officials. He initiated contact with one official, then shoved his assistant coach on the way to berate a second official. He pushed two teammates in that argument before making his way to the third referee and shouting at him. At that point a second teammate stood in front of Balkman and was pushed. A third teammate, Arwind Santos, stood in front of him as well and was also shoved. When Santos pushed back, Balkman grabbed Santos by the throat and appeared to say "Don't touch me."

Balkman released a statement following his violent behavior, saying "Everybody does something once in a life, they're not supposed to do. At the time I blanked out and went at it. It's my first time ever in my entire life to do that."

PBA commissioner Chito Salud said Balkman received the lifetime ban for "initiating 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, which showed "a blatant and utter disrespect for the game, his own ball club, the League, the fans and his host country."

Balkman averaged four points and three and a half rebounds per game in his six-year NBA career. He was drafted 20^th overall by the Knicks in the 2006 NBA draft and traded to the Nuggets in 2008 for Taurean Green, Bobby Jones and a 2010 second-round draft pick. He last played in the NBA during the 2011-2012 season, when he averaged three points and two rebounds a night in 14 games.

Balkman was averaging 25 points, 13.4 rebounds two assists and nearly three blocked shots a game for the PBA's Petron Blaze Boosters, and led them to a 5-2 record before earning his ban.