NEW YORK — The NBA fined Jusuf Nurkic of the Portland Trail Blazers $40,000 on Tuesday for confronting a fan at a game in Indiana and throwing the person’s cellphone.
The incident happened shortly after Sunday’s game between the Blazers and the Pacers. Nurkic approached the fan, walked within a few inches of the person, grabbed the person’s cellphone and tossed it into nearby seats.
Jusuf Nurkic was NOT happy with what this fan said/did, got in his face, and tossed his phone ????pic.twitter.com/yboKUzVcL1
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 21, 2022
It was not clear what preceded the incident, which lasted only a few seconds. A security guard walked between Nurkic and the fan after the phone was tossed, at which point the Blazers’ center walked away.
The fan who Jusuf Nurkic confronted shouted ‘your mom is trash’ and called his grandmother a ‘b---h,’ per @ChrisBHaynes
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 22, 2022
Nurkic’s grandmother died of COVID-19 in 2020 pic.twitter.com/BGZuNSBASk
Indiana won the game 129-98. Nurkic, whose nickname is “the Bosnian Beast,” did not play. He has not played since mid-February because of left foot plantar fasciitis.
