This Thursday, a EuroLeague playoff match had to be suspended after a fight broke out between Real Madrid and Partizan Belgrade, as each squad was left without enough players to continue the game.
The brawl started in the fourth quarter as the Spanish side was down in the score 95-80 at home. You could already tell the tensions were high during the game, but all hell broke loose by the time Madrid’s Guerschon Yabusele took former Top 5 NBA Draft pick Dante Exum and slammed him to the floor.
Take a look at the incident when the former NBA athlete gets handled as if it was a wrestling match:
Former Boston Celtic Guerschon Yabusele slams Dante Exum to the ground during a brawl between Real Madrid and Partizan!
(Via @BasketNews_com) pic.twitter.com/5OVxoFUoRy
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 27, 2023
It all started when Madrid guard Sergio Llull committed a hard foul on Partizan’s Kevin Punter, which seemed to be the final drop to spill the cup, as it immediately led to punches being thrown between most players, including off the bench.
After the game, Madrid’s Yabusele finally realized his mistake, as Exum wasn’t engaging in the brawl like the rest of his players, and his actions intensified the surrounding tension.
“I deeply regret my behavior at last night’s game,” he wrote on his Instagram account, as he awaits the disciplinary measures against him. “Basketball is about sportsmanship and friendship. My sincere apologies to Partizan, a club with which we have always had a great relationship, to Dante Exum and his family, to my teammates, my club, and all the fans.”
After the former NBA player was seen exiting the stadium with crutches, it was confirmed that he had suffered a serious injury. “The tendon in his second toe has ruptured,” Partizan’s medic Moma Jakovljevic told reporters.
“It’s a serious injury,” the doctor admitted. “He will have to use crutches to travel back to Belgrade, and we will have more tests there. His upper lip was also injured.”
Yabusele was also an NBA player after two years representing the Boston Celtics. He played a total of 74 matches in the league, from 2017-2019.
After the fight was over, the Serbian club was finally awarded the victory
As the contest never returned, it was called after review and Partizan Belgrade was awarded the triumph. The EuroLeague immediately released a statement explaining that a disciplinary judge “will issue a decision about the on-court incidents in accordance with the established proceedings within the following 24 hours.”
“Euroleague Basketball strongly condemns the events that happened at the end of the game,” the league assured. “Such events do not represent the values of respect that the league and its clubs promote and that the sport of basketball embodies.”
Take a look at the actions right before Madrid’s Llull commits the last foul and the brawl begins:
“This is in the hands of the officials and in the hands of the EuroLeague,” Partizan Belgrade coach Zeljko Obradovic expressed. “I believe that what happened is not good for the image of basketball, not good for the image of Real Madrid nor for Partizan. This should never happen. The players have emotions and this has happened.”
Back in 2014, Exum was selected with the 5th overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, spending a total of 7 years in the league.
The athlete’s last campaign in the NBA was wearing the Cleveland Cavaliers’ jersey back in the 2020/21 season.
