The NBA unveiled the punishment for Nikola Jokic and Miami Heat wing Markieff Morris on Tuesday night. Did they get it right?
Late Tuesday night, the NBA handed down punishments for Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, and the Miami Heat‘s Markieff Morris and Jimmy Butler. During the Heat vs. Nuggets game Monday night, Morris committed a hard foul on Jokic by giving the Serbian big man a hard shove while running up the court with approximately 2:39 seconds to go in the fourth.
After collecting himself, Jokic retaliated by giving Morris a taste of his own medicine, by shoving Morris so hard he could have suffered from whiplash. After a lengthy review, both players got ejected from the game.
The repercussions for both players came down from the league office and it seems as though they were much harder on Jokic. Morris avoided suspension and only got slapped with the customary $50,000 fine for committing a flagrant foul penalty two.
Jokic on the other hand did receive a one-game suspension without pay. Butler also received a fine for failing to comply with the association’s security report.
Markieff Morris has been fined $50,000 for committing Flagrant Foul 2 on Jokic that initiated on-court altercation, NBA says. https://t.co/OD1RL50ZNn
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 10, 2021
Both players were in the wrong, and the entire incident should have never taken place. With that said, there is no scenario where Jokic should have been suspended and Morris was not, other than the one we got in reality.
Morris started the chaos since the league felt it was necessary to suspend Jokic, Morris should have been suspended as well.
The message the league is sending with the punishment they dished out, is it’s okay to start a ruckus, and as long as the retaliation is worse than the initial act, the initiator will avoid the harshest repercussions. That makes no sense!
NBA on TNT crew weighs in
Unsurprisingly, as this is probably the biggest story in the NBA at the moment, the NBA on TNT crew — mainly Shaq and Sir Charles himself — provided their thoughts on the altercation:
"When you hit me, don't turn ya head cuz it's coming."
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 10, 2021
Shaq and Chuck discuss Jokic and Markieff Morris' altercation last night
(via @NBAonTNT)pic.twitter.com/C21GhtMUpi
These two squads will meet again later this month, on November 29. The game is scheduled to be on NBA TV. Given the messages sent out on Twitter by members of the Heat, expect more fireworks and chippiness during the match.
Maybe nothing will actually happen, but I’ll have my money on a few members from both teams’ pocketbooks becoming a bit lighter once again on a Tuesday.