The biggest topic coming out of the Phoenix Suns' Game 4 victory over the Denver Nuggets was the courtside incident between new owner Mat Ishbia and two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. It was a relatively light dust-up, no different than you'd see at any bar on a Saturday night when Jon Taffer's dastardly butt funnel does its job to force people into tight proximity. And also a situation where you could just as easily side with no one as you could side with everyone.
For the record, everyone involved here could have handled themselves differently but the heat of the moment does things to people. Ishbia could have thrown a firm to pass to an official faster. Jokic certainly did not need to go wrestle the ball away because there was a Suns player still at a 45-degree angle so what was the rush. Both the forearm and the exaggerated reaction to it were completely unneeded.
Jokic was assessed a technical and all the shows are wondering aloud if he might be suspended for a pivotal Game 5, which is just a classic thing to debate instead of anything that happened on the court.
But Ishbia, with all his money and power, has stepped up to make sure that those segments ring hollow because not even he, the only one affected, wants to see the Nuggets big man further penalized.
There it is. Case closed. Anyone who continues to call for any Jokic punishment is even being even more performative than usual.
A rare good tweet from a billionaire. Mark it down.
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Mat Ishbia Heroically Shuts Down Any Potential Nikola Jokic Suspension Segment.
