Nikola Jokic Clears the Air With Suns Owner After Game 4 Altercation

Ahmad Austin Jr.May 10th, 2023, 10:48 am
 

It appears all is well between the Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia.

After the two briefly got into it in Game 4, they were seen patching things up before the start of Tuesday night’s Game 2. During the pre-game Nuggets’ shootaround, Jokic walked past Ishbia on the way to the locker room. As he approached him, he handed Ishbia the ball and they shared an embrace before Jokic continued walking.

After the Nuggets won Game 5, Jokic joined spoke with TNT’s Inside The NBA crew and talked about the brief exchange.

“I don’t have nothing against him,” Jokic said. “I would do the same thing if it was anybody else in Phoenix. If you guys follow, that’s what I like to do. I like to inbound the ball really quickly and just get an advantage (and) keep the game going. I just wanted to make fun — at least — a little bit. I was hoping he was gonna pay my fine, but nah.”

In the second quarter of Game 4, Suns guard Josh Okogie fell into the stands when he was trying to save the ball from going out. He fell right into a group of spectators that included Ishbia, resulting in the ball ending up in the owner’s hands. As the group was trying to help Okogie up, Jokic ran over to get the ball and inbound it while the Nuggets had the numbers advantage with Okogie out of play. Ishbia resisted Jokic’s attempt to pull the ball away, so Jokic shoved him. Ishbia fell to the ground.

The next day, Ishbia took to Twitter to call for no punishment for either player. The NBA ended up fining Jokic $25,000, but he was still able to play in Game 5.

Watch above via TNT

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