In a heated fourth-quarter moment during the Denver Nuggets’ 127-121 overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, Nikola Jokic reacted strongly to what he called an “unnecessary” foul by Luguentz Dort.
With 8:03 left in regulation and the Thunder leading 90-88, Jokic was running up the court without the ball when Dort backed into him and extended his right leg, tripping the three-time MVP and sending him to the floor. Jokic quickly got up, confronted Dort angrily, and delivered a chest bump.
The incident escalated as Thunder center Jaylin Williams intervened, leading to shoves and jersey-grabbing between Jokic and Williams. A scrum was formed involving players, coaches, and officials before the situation was calmed.
Officials reviewed the play and upgraded Dort’s foul to a Flagrant Foul 2 for unnecessary and excessive contact with high injury potential, resulting in his automatic ejection. Jokic and Williams received offsetting technical fouls.
Crew chief James Williams explained the call, noting the contact’s danger and how it sparked an unresolved altercation.
Jokic later described the foul as “an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction.”
“There is no such thing — I think there’s not supposed to be those things on a basketball floor. So, it was just an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction by me,” he said, via ESPN.
The physical, chippy matchup featured prior tensions, including an early technical on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after he threw the ball at Jokic following contact.
Jokic finished with a triple-double of 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 14 assists, though he shot 9-of-25 from the field.
The Nuggets dropped to 4-7 since his return from injury. The teams square off again on March 9 in Oklahoma City.
