KEY POINTS

  • The Jokic brothers throw a word of caution as one of the Morris twins hints at payback
  • Nikola Jokic gets a one-game suspension, while Morris and Butler draw hefty fines for the altercation
  • Nikola says he was just trying to protect himself in the game

It appears the aftermath of the Nikola Jokic hit on Markieff Morris is far from over.

Twin brother Marcus Morris of the Los Angeles Clippers posted on Twitter his feelings on the incident and appeared to leave a certain kind of threat. The Jokic brothers did not take those comments sitting down and issued a threat of their own.

“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,” the Jokic Brothers tweet read.

This was in response to the 32-year-old’s initial post, pointing out how Jokic waited until Markieff turned his back before hitting him during the Denver Nuggets vs. Miami Heat game.

The Nuggets were leading, 111-94, when the incident happened at halfcourt with only 2:39 seconds left in the game.

Markieff came out of it with a neck injury following a strong shove by last season’s NBA Most Valuable Player.

For those who missed it, check out the video below.

It should be noted that the Jokic brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, are no pushovers when it comes to combat sports.

Of the two, Nemanja has reportedly taken part in low-level MMA fights, USA Today reported.

It remains to be seen if the league would step in to cool things down. But for now, actions have been already taken on the players who were involved in the Nuggets-Heat incident.

In an announcement made on Tuesday, November 9, Nikola has been suspended for one game without pay for "forcefully shoving" Markieff.

But Markieff was not spared from the incident in what is being deemed a cheap shot.

His fouls were upgraded to a Flagrant-2 and fined $50,000. However, no game suspension was given.

Jimmy Butler, who was visibly upset as well, was also fined $30,000 for attempting to escalate the situation and failing to comply with an NBA security interview as part of the review process pertaining to an on-court matter.

Main man: Denver's Nikola Jokic is the 2021 NBA regular season MVP
Main man: Denver's Nikola Jokic is the 2021 NBA regular season MVP GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Steph Chambers

For his part, Nikola stressed that he was just protecting himself from what he felt was a dirty play.

"I'm not supposed to react that way. I got hit. I saw him, but I thought it was just gonna be like a take foul. But he bumped me and I was like, I think it was a dirty play and I just needed to protect myself," the Serbian center said on Twitter.

RELATED STORIES
NBA