Nikola Jokic Reportedly Fined Over Suns Owner’s Flop

Nuggets star Nikola Jokic

Getty Image / Christian Petersen


Last night’t Game 4 matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns was one to remember for basketball fans.

It saw two of the NBA’s most talented rosters going to battle with the Suns looking to even up the series before heading back to Denver.

They pulled it off in another high-scoring affair, winning the game 129-124.

That win came thanks to big performances from their two stars and a surprising scoring outburst from one of their bench players.

The got another ridiculously efficient performance from Devin Booker, who scored 36 points on 14/18 from the field and assisted 12 other baskets. Kevin Durant chipped in 36 of his own while grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists.

Landry Shamet also set playoff career highs in points with 19 and 3 pointers made with 4.

The win also came in spite of a ridiculous effort from Nikola Jokic, who dropped 53 on the Suns and dished out 11 assists.

Unfortunately, despite all of those impressive performances, there it was something that happened on the sidelines that might be what fans remember from the game.

In the second quarter of the game, Jokic went to retrieve a ball that had gone into the stands. The ball was in the hands of Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who wouldn’t give it to the Nuggets star.

Jokic responded by knocking the ball away from Ishbia and then proceeded to nudge him with a forearm. Ishbia then flailed into his seat like Jokic had thrown him.

The Nuggets star was assessed a technical foul for the incident and now the league has reportedly made a decision on further punishment.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Jokic will be fined $25K.

The NBA appears to be taking a page out of the NFL’s playbook with an unnecessary fine here.

Ishbia was just as much to blame for this incident as Jokic and the Nuggets star’s push really wasn’t all that forceful.

Nikola Jokic probably didn’t deserve a T during the game and really didn’t need to be fined, but at least we can all move on from this incident now.