Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was handed a technical foul Sunday night after a clash with Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia during their teams’ playoff meeting.
In the second quarter, Suns guard Josh Okogie tripped over the seats while chasing the ball. Ishbia grabbed the ball and Jokic tried to win it back. Shortly after the ball flew towards the seats, Jokic and Ishbia made contact. Unsurprisingly, the 6-foot-11, 285-pound Jokic got the best of the fight and Ishbia was dropped backwards. It was not clear if Jokic clearly saw Ishbia or if he knew who he was.
The referees consulted with each other for a few minutes before evaluating Jokic as a manager.
Ishbia, 43, is the billionaire CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage. She played basketball at Michigan State as a walk-on, where she won a national title. In February she bought the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury for $4 billion from Robert Sarver, whose regime has been embroiled in controversy. The purchase was the largest for an NBA team in history, dwarfing the $3.3 billion Joe Tsai paid for the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center in 2019.
“Basketball is the center of my life, from my high school days as a player to the honor of playing for Coach Izzo and winning a national title at Michigan State University,” Ishbia said upon completing his purchase.
Jokic is a two-time NBA MVP and at 28 he is already considered one of the best European league players of all time. The incident did little to dampen Jokic’s performance: He scored 24 points in the first half.