The NBA has suspended Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic for one game for leaving the team’s bench during an altercation against the Utah Jazz, it was announced Friday.
Jokic left the bench area during a physical confrontation between Jazz power forward Derrick Favors and Nuggets backup center Mason Plumlee on Wednesday. Favors and Plumlee were both ejected after their exchange of shoves resulted in a scrum underneath the basket with 2:46 left in the first quarter of the Jazz’s 114-108 victory.
Jokic got off the Nuggets’ bench and took several steps down the baseline toward the scrum. He did not step on the court or confront anyone before being pulled back by a Nuggets assistant.
Kiki VanDeWeghe, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, said Jokic’s close proximity to the altercation and aggressive manner created the potential for further escalation of the situation.
Said Jokic after the game: “I was not on the court. I mean, I cannot step? I was not even close. … I did not do nothing.”
Plumlee was fined $25,000 on Friday, while Favors was fined $15,000.
Jokic will serve the suspension during Friday’s game against the Phoenix Suns.
On Thursday, Nuggets coach Mike Malone said he thought Jokic would not receive a suspension.
“I think our assistant coaches made sure that nobody was on the court,” Malone said Thursday. “I have no doubts that our guys stayed where they were supposed to stay.”
Source : ESPN
