Wednesday night’s game between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets saw tension boil over early, as big men Derrick Favors and Mason Plumlee got into it with one another during the first quarter of play. The pair were ejected from the game, which Utah would go on to win by a final score of 114-108.
We learned on Friday afternoon that neither player will receive any punishment for the incident beyond fines — Plumlee will part with $25,000, while Favor is out $15,000. However, neither dude got the most severe punishment in the aftermath of the scuffle. That honor goes to Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic, who the league announced will be suspended one game for leaving the bench area while things went down.
Favors and Plumlee exchanged pleasantries underneath the hoop near Denver’s bench, which led to Jokic walking towards the incident a few steps. As noted on the broadcast of the game, this sort of thing is a big deal to the NBA, and the possibility of a suspension came into play. Now, Jokic will be forced to sit out Friday night’s home tilt between the Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns.
There is something odd about a player who wasn’t involved in the fight and didn’t get ejected from the game receiving a suspension while those who were directly involved just get fines, but leaving the bench area is viewed as a cardinal sin by the league. The good news is that the Nuggets can take care of business against the Suns without the services of their star big man, but any game without Jokic is less than ideal for a Denver squad with hopes of securing a top-4 seed in the Western Conference.
