Spurs guard Daniels accused of assault in basketball scrimage

By Karisa King
San Antonio Express-News

A 23-year-old man is accusing San Antonio Spurs guard Antonio Daniels of assaulting him during an amateur basketball scrimmage Sunday, saying the celebrity player became irate when his team lost the game.

Adara Davis, a local junior college student who was playing against Daniels in a weekend basketball league, told police that he and Daniels, 27, began trading barbs during the game. When Daniels' team failed to pull ahead, the exchange overheated into a scuffle and the NBA player left a 5-inch scratch across his neck, according to a police report.

Late Sunday, no charges had been filed against Daniels, who left the game at the Barshop Jewish Community Center on Northwest Military Drive shortly before an officer arrived. Efforts to contact him were unsuccessful.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich did not speak to Daniels on Sunday, but said the overblown attention paid to the incident seemed to turn mostly on Daniels' celebrity.

"If this is just a typical altercation that happens relatively often in pick up games - which we all know takes place - if that's all it is, then it's unfortunate that it would get to this point that everybody has to talk about it," he said. "If there's more to it than that, and Antonio acted inappropriately, I'm sure he would own up to it."

Late Sunday, Davis declined to talk about the encounter. According to the police report, he told the officer that he rolled a basketball toward Daniels, who then picked it up and threw it back at him, hitting him in the back of the hip.

The report said Davis spun around, threw his hands in the air and said, "What?"

Davis told police that Daniels walked toward him "in an aggressive manner," and wrapped his hands around his neck. Players from both teams rushed in and the two fell to the floor before being pulled apart from each other, according to the police report.

Margot Helton, a Bexar County sheriff's deputy who was working security in another part of the center, heard people yelling and went to investigate. By the time she got to the basketball court, Daniels and the rest of his teammates in the amateur game had left the building. She said she went outside and talked to him in the parking lot.

"I ran up to him and asked if there was a problem," Helton said. "He said, 'No, no, no. It was nothing. I just don't appreciate people talking to me like that. It doesn't matter who I am.'."

Although Daniels was calm, he wanted to return to the gymnasium to claim his basketball, Helton said. She sent two of Daniels' friends to retrieve it instead.

"He did the right thing to leave," Helton said. "I think everything was just blown out of proportion. Whenever you have a celebrity involved, it's a good time to point a finger. I'm not defending him. I don't know what happened.

Had it not been a famous person involved, it would have been no big deal."

Police spokesman Richard Solis said investigators plan to question Davis again before deciding whether to press charges in the case.