The NBA suspended Dallas Mavericks forward Naji Marshall for four games and Phoenix Suns centre Jusuf Nurkic for three games on Saturday for their involvement in an on-court altercation.
The incident occurred during the third quarter of the Mavericks’ 98-89 win Friday.
Nurkic was whistled for an offensive foul after elbowing Mavericks’ Daniel Gafford in the post. Initially walking down to the other end of the floor following the call, the Bosnian big man appeared to take exception to something said and turned back towards a crowd of Mavericks players.
Within a second of Nurkic being face-to-face with Naji Marshall, things reached a boiling point. Nurkic struck Marshall across the face, to which the Dallas forward responded with a right hook.
“Just protecting each other — that’s what that was,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said after the game. “Emotions can get high, so our guys protect one another. We talk about it and it was displayed tonight.”
Mavericks forward P.J. Washington then got in on the action as he shoved Nurkic from behind amid the chaos. Once things settled down and the situation was reviewed, all three were given technical fouls and ejected from the game.
“I think that level of altercation is not good for our team, it’s not good for anybody individually, it’s not good for our league,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I don’t know all the details of what got it to that point.”
Friday wasn’t the first time Nurkic was involved in a physical altercation, as nearly a year ago he was famously on the receiving end of a Draymond Green head strike that led to the Golden State Warriors’ big man missing 12 games due to suspension.
— with files from The Associated Press.