Adelaide 36ers forward Nick Rakocevic has been handed his punishment following an on-court incident involving New Zealand Breakers forward Mojave King on Sunday.

The Game Review Panel (GRP) has charged Rakocevic with striking, classifying the conduct as intentional, low impact and high contact.

The charge carries a one-game suspension, which would see Rakocevic miss Wednesday night’s blockbuster clash against Melbourne United.

Watch every NBL game LIVE with ESPN, available on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.

However, Rakocevic and the 36ers have since accepted an early guilty plea, which reduces the penalty to a $1,550 fine and will now allow him to take the court against United.

During Adelaide’s 88-72 loss to New Zealand, Rakocevic found himself involved in a heated and physical battle with several players under the basket early in the third quarter, with the Breakers leading just 48-47 at the time.

The play showed Rakocevic being boxed out by King before the 36ers forward appeared to make contact with the Breakers star, prompting an immediate reaction from the commentary team.

“Rakocevic came in strongly! Across the face of Mo King and that looked like an unsportsmanlike foul,” NBL commentator John Casey said.

1990 NBL MVP Derek Rucker shared Casey’s sentiment.

“I think it definitely was an unsportsmanlike foul.”

“Rakocevic came in crazy and just started clearing people out!”

NBL MVP Power Rankings: New MVP frontrunner emerges as reigning king slides; breakout Aussie storms into race

The incident was not reviewed during the game and play continued, but less than 24 hours later, the NBL confirmed Rakocevic had been referred to the Game Review Panel.

Unfortunately for Rakocevic, this is not his first encounter with the GRP, having already found himself in this position twice during his short NBL career.

Last December against Melbourne United, Rakocevic was charged with striking following an incident involving former United forward Finn Delany.

Rakocevic was ejected from the game, with the GRP initially classifying his conduct as intentional, high impact and high contact.

However, during a hearing the following Monday, a Single Member Tribunal found Rakocevic guilty of the offence but downgraded the impact from high to medium, imposing a two-game suspension with one game suspended for a period of 24 months.

Just over a month later, the star forward found himself in hot water again, this time following a fiery altercation involving several players during Adelaide’s clash with the Brisbane Bullets.

Rakocevic was involved in a physical confrontation that saw him forced into a chokehold by former Bullets import Terry Taylor, with the 36ers forward subsequently handed an unsportsmanlike behaviour charge.

As a result, Rakocevic was required to serve the one-game suspension hanging over him from the previous incident involving Delany.

With the club accepting the early guilty plea and paying the $1,550 fine, Rakocevic will be available to face United in a must-win clash in front of a home crowd desperate to see the 36ers get their season back on track.