Ex-ATL Hawks player Pero Antic just took an "L" in his legal war with the NYPD -- after a judge decided the cop who pushed him during a 2015 incident didn't use excessive force.
Antic and then-teammate Thabo Sefolosha both sued the NYPD claiming cops got unnecessarily violent with them on the street ... after another NBA player got stabbed in a separate incident.
Officials initially said Antic grabbed an officer on the shoulder while the cop was trying to arrest Thabo. Antic claims the cop pushed him to the ground.