Nikola Jokic will not be suspended, the NBA announced Monday, as a result of his physical contact with Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia during the Nuggets’ Game 4 loss Sunday night in Phoenix. The Western Conference semifinals is tied 2-2.
However, Jokic will be fined $25,000 for “making improper contact with a spectator sitting courtside,” according to a news release from the league.
The contact in question took place with 2:36 to go until halftime of Phoenix’s 129-124 victory.
With the Nuggets leading 55-54, Jokic blocked the shot of Phoenix center Deandre Ayton, sending the ball out of bounds toward the baseline corner left of the basket. The carom landed in the arms of Ishbia, who purchased the Suns earlier this year. When Jokic raced to Ishbia’s seat to demand the ball, the owner appeared to clutch it tighter in defiance of Jokic’s haste. The Nuggets center would say later that he had wanted to inbound the ball quickly to take advantage of a 5-on-4 opportunity.
Instead, tensions escalated. Jokic’s attempts to dislodge the ball from Ishbia instead sent it careening back a few rows into the crowd. As the 6-foot-11 Jokic reached out toward the crowd to plead for the ball, his left elbow bumped the 5-foot-10 Ishbia, who fell back into his seat after the contact.
Replays showed Ishbia putting a hand on Jokic’s left hip before the Nuggets center made contact with the owner, and at least one other fan touches Joker during the fracas. That fan was ejected. Ishbia rose from his seat quickly as Jokic continued to plead for the ball.
Per NBA’s rulebook, players are automatically ejected for “deliberately entering the stands other than as a continuance of play.”
Jokic, his teammates and coach Michael Malone insisted his pursuit of the ball was part of such continuance.
Officials seemed to agree once order was restored, issuing an unsportsmanlike technical foul to the Nuggets star but allowing him to remain in the game. Jokic finished with a team-high 53 points, which was also a new single-game best for the Serbian center in a playoff game.
However, crew chief and longtime NBA referee Tony Brothers likely muddied the issue with his comments to a pool reporter after the game, noting that Jokic was punished after having “deliberately (given Ishbia) a shove and pushed him down.” Yet Brothers also declared the technical foul and lack of ejection to be “appropriate” for the contact made at the time.
“(A referee) told me I was elbowing the fan, but the fan put his hands on me first,” Jokic told reporters after the game. “I thought the league is supposed to protect us. But maybe I’m wrong.
“Whoever (Ishbia) is, he’s a fan. He cannot influence the game by holding the ball. I think he’s supposed to get kicked out if he’s influencing the game.”
Ishbia released a statement on Twitter Monday morning calling for there to be no suspension or fine for Jokic: “Great win for the Suns last night in an amazing series so far! That should be and is the only story. Suspending or fining anyone over last nights incident would not be right. I have a lot of respect for Jokic and don’t want to see anything like that.”
