Former National Basketball League (NBA) player Renaldo Balkman was banned from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) after he choked teammate Arwind Santos during a game.

The incident occurred on Friday during the last few seconds of a game between the Petron Blaze Boosters and the Alaska Aces for the Commissioners Cup, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Near the end of the game, Balkman got angry about a non-call by one of the referees. He started an argument with three refs who placed a technical foul on him before he pushed everyone who tried to calm him down.

One of the people who tried to help Balkman was teammate Santos who got pushed back by the American player. Balkman then put his hands around Santos' throat and had to be restrained by other players to get him off.

The end of the game resulted in Balkman's Boosters losing to the Aces 83-73.

The announcement of the ban was made by PBA Commissoner Chito Salud who indicated that he took the player's past behavior of other misconducts into consideration.

"I also took into consideration Balkman's evident disregard for local and the host country's sensibilities highlighted by his choking act on-court in full public view of his own teammate who was trying to pacify him," Salud said, according to Reuters. "Stiff as it maybe, this decision upholds the tenets of contextual accountability and the over-all interest of the League and the fans."

Salud added that all players should be accountable for their actions especially for any violations of normal "sportsmanship and decent behavior."

The 28-year-old basketball player was fined around $6,000 along with his expulsion which is reportedly the largest amount penalized on a player from another country, according to Yahoo News.

Balkman played as a forward for the PBA team before the ban.

He previously played for the New York Knicks as well as for the Denver Nuggets.