The NBA is reportedly investigating the scuffle that broke out at the end of Game 4 between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, per ESPN. The league plans to interview players and game officials, with rulings on potential punishments expected to come before Game 5 on Monday. The Nuggets, down 3-1 in the series, will be facing elimination on their home floor.
The situation stemmed from what appears to be a violation one of the unwritten rules of basketball. It came with 1.3 seconds left in the game, after the Timberwolves already had a 110-96 lead. Mike Conley corralled a rebound off a missed Denver shot with 10 seconds left, and passed it ahead to Jaden McDaniels who was already at halfcourt. As he jogged to get the ball, McDaniels laid the ball in to give the Wolves two more points.
Immediately after that happened, Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic ran toward McDaniels to confront him for what he thought was an unnecessary shot, and shoved the Wolves forward. McDaniels grabbed Jokić’s jersey as players, coaches and officials all swarmed to the two players in an effort to diffuse the situation.
There was plenty of pushing and shoving going on between several players, with Julius Randle having to be held back from Jokić. Nothing escalated past shoving, though McDaniels and Jokić were exchanging words at the end of the squabble. Jokić and Randle were immediately ejected for “unsportsmanlike conduct,” and the game ended shortly after that.
It’s an unspoken rule in basketball that if the win is already in hand, if the winning team has the ball on the final possession, you just dribble it out until the clock expires. McDaniels didn’t do that, and it clearly irritated Jokić.
“He scored when everybody stopped playing,” a visibly frustrated Jokić said in response to why he was so upset with McDaniels. “You saw it, what happened.”
McDaniels was unsure what Jokić said to him while the two were going back and forth.
“I don’t know what he said, to be honest, I just saw someone that was big as hell [coming toward me],” McDaniels said.
Nuggets coach David Adelman also took exception to McDaniels’ shot.
“I didn’t like what McDaniels did,” Adelman told reporters. “The game was over…in 2026 that stuff just doesn’t happen anymore, that’s something that happens in the 80s where teams would continue to score, but that’s who he is.”
The Wolves forward, who previously ruffled some of the Nuggets’ feathers for calling out their “bad defenders” explained his thought process behind why he decided to take the final shot.
“The clock still be running, so I’m about to go score,” McDaniels said.
Jokić said he didn’t regret running after McDaniels, and when asked if he viewed that situation as an unwritten rule to not score late, the three-time MVP said, “Yeah.”
Given that Jokić was ejected from the game, he might get hit with the biggest punishment of everyone involved. It would be fairly shocking to see the league suspend Jokić from Game 5, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility given he ran at McDaniels, which started the entire incident. If Jokić is suspended, that would be a massive blow for the Nuggets, who will be fighting for their lives in Game 5.
The same goes for whatever punishments come for anyone else on both teams. With the Wolves down Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo, they can’t afford to miss anyone else for Game 5, especially someone like Randle, who the team will need to rely on heavily now that Edwards will be sidelined for the next few weeks with a knee injury.
