Nikola Jokic not expecting suspension after walking toward Mason Plumlee-Derrick Favors scuffle

Tom Gatto

Nikola Jokic not expecting suspension after walking toward Mason Plumlee-Derrick Favors scuffle image

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic said he doesn't expect to be sanctioned by the NBA for leaving the bench area during a scuffle in Denver's game Wednesday at Utah.

Jokic was one of about a half-dozen Nuggets players who walked along the baseline toward an altercation under the basket between teammate Mason Plumlee and Jazz forward Derrick Favors in the first quarter. Plumlee and Favors were ejected.

Jokic seemed to believe that the out-of-bounds area isn't, well, out of bounds when it comes to such incidents.

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"I was not on the court." he said, per the Deseret News.

He wasn't inbounds, but he was on the hardwood, and given how far he wandered out of his seat, the league could suspend him and the others — a group that includes starting point guard Jamal Murray — one game each for joining in an altercation when not in the game.

If Jokic is forced to sit, Denver might luck out on the timing. Its next contest is Friday vs. the Suns, who have the worst record in the Western Conference.

Jokic, 23, leads the Nuggets in scoring (19.8 per game) and rebounding (10.3 per game). He posted 28 points and 21 boards Wednesday in Denver's 114-108 loss.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.