The NBL have stepped in and prevented Glen Rice Jr from taking part in the Breakers match against the Perth Wildcats on Sunday following an incident in Auckland on Thursday.
The incident has been referred to the Basketball Australia integrity unit to conduct an investigation. Rice Jr is not prevented from training or other club commitments.
The Rice saga is the latest to hit the New Zealand Breakers and it comes off the back of a rocky road over the past two seasons under the ownership of American Matt Walsh.
Since his arrival in 2018, two head coaches have left, two assistants, a general manager and a number of players and backroom staff have all gone.
You can understand why his time in Auckland has been subject to conjecture.
He's since brought new director of Basketball Dan Shamir on board and his methods have not been received well, with murmurs of unhappiness amongst players.
And it certainly doesn’t make it any easier with their record standing at two wins and six losses.
But the news got better for Walsh today, he has had his two-game suspension reduced to just one after the NBL Appeals Panel reviewed his case.
Walsh was involved in a verbal altercation with NBL commissioner Jeremy Loeliger after the Breakers lost to South East Melbourne Phoenix 103-78 last Saturday.
The appeals panel also confirmed the NZ$5000 fine, however they suspended NZ$3000 of this pending good behaviour by Walsh for a period of 12 months.
They also noted that Walsh apologised for his behaviour and acknowledged that it was inappropriate and indicated that no incident like this will occur again.
