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Why are Nikola Jokic’s 7 Ft Brothers Banned from Nuggets Practice Facility? Past Issues Explored Amid Lakers Game Punch

Published 04/23/2024, 2:03 PM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

Nikola Jokić is in the headlines again! And no, it’s not because of his last win against the Lakers in Game 2. Kind of related, but there’s something else right now. It’s his brothers that are pulling him in this time. As it turns out, a video going viral on the internet after yesterday’s matchup, fans are being heated up by Joker’s brother.

As Jokic and the Nuggets were fighting tooth and nail to overcome the Lakers’ 20-point lead, Jokic’s brother got involved in an altercation with a Lakers fan in the stands. His brothers, Nemanja and Strahinja, suddenly punched a Los Angeles fan. For the same reason, there’s a high possibility of them getting banned from either the Nuggets’ practice facility or from attending all kinds of basketball games for a certain amount of time. The Denver Police is currently involved and investigating the fiasco, even though no reports were filed as of a few hours ago.

The fight and the punching broke out as Jamal Murray hit the buzzer-beater to lead the Nuggets to a 101-99 win over Los Angeles on Monday at the Ball Arena. Suddenly, Strahinja and Nemanja approached two men in the stands at the arena and started to confront them. It is not clear what led to the confrontation, or even what was said to lead to such a step, but Strahinja Jokic was seen punching the fan in his head.

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The powerful right-hand punch seems to be the end of the situation, but considering the gravity of the situation, as per TMZ Sports, even the League is involved in taking action. Michael J. Babcoch of TMZ Sports said, “The #NBA is investigating the altercation between Nikola Jokić’s brother Strahinja Jokic and a fan during game 2 of the #Lakers-#Nuggets series last night in Denver, sources tell us.”

Even though it comes as a shock that such a thing can happen, this isn’t really the first time Jokic’s brothers are involved in a fight. There’ve been many such instances in the past, too.

The unruly past of Nikola Jokić’s brothers

In 2021, both Strahinja and Nemanja took to social media after the 2x MVP was suspended for shoving Markieff Morris. They even threatened Morris many times. Both of them sit at the courtside in most of the Nuggets’ games, and aren’t too worried before taking action against everything! In Morris’ case, they both went on X and called him out, letting him know that both of them are waiting for him, if wants to go ahead. This is what they tweeted at the time: “You should leave this the way it is instead of publicly threatening our brother! Your brother made a dirty play first. If you want to make a step further be sure we will be waiting for you !! Jokic Brothers”.

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In fact, they’ve even screamed at the Suns’ players after a scuffle in the same year. And then, they heckled another Lakers fan, Jack Nicholson after the Nuggets lost Game 3 of the Western Conference in the finals last year. NBA on ESPN even shared a video of this incident on their X account, with the duo waving goodbye and shouting “see you next year” as Nicholson made his way out.

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It is also worth mentioning that Jokic’s elder brother was also arrested in 2019 on a suspicion of assault against a woman. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of obstruction of phone service and felony trespassing in February 2020. Subsequently, Denver District Court Judge Shelley Gilman gave Jokic a deferred sentence. Therefore, he wouldn’t face any penalties as long as he followed the rules of unsupervised probation and didn’t commit another crime before February 3, 2022. The case was dismissed since he fulfilled the terms.

With their history of unruly behavior towards fans and players, what action do you think the NBA will take against the Jokic brothers? Should they be banned from the games at least for this post-season? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by:

Darshita Daga

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Darshita is an NBA Writer at EssentiallySports who is creating her own space in the spectrum of sport journalism. Darshita specializes in dissecting post-game interviews, trade, and contracts. Her appetite for literature, akin to her affection for the Milwaukee Bucks, knows no bounds.
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Edited by:

Saumya Khanduja