WHY JOKIC WAS RIGHT — AND ISHBIA SHOULDN’T SIT CLOSE TO THE ACTION
Thankfully, the NBA didn’t suspend the Denver big man for shoving the Phoenix owner, who put his hand on Jokic first and wouldn’t give up the ball when he has many more important things to accomplish
This is why luxury suites exist. They allow sports owners to sip wine, eat finger food and entertain guests while avoiding the furious competitive fray of, say, a baseline seat during an NBA playoff game. Distance especially applies when an owner is the ultimate basketball overachiever — a high-energy, height-challenged hustler who walked onto Tom Izzo’s team at Michigan State and into a national title, before turning his father’s mortgage company into America’s largest wholesale lender, allowing him to buy the Phoenix Suns at age 42.
Mat Ishbia is the owner who thinks he’s still in uniform, prepared to pounce and win a ballgame when the coach calls his name.
“A pit bull,” Izzo calls him.
And though I appreciate his enthusiasm and cannot stop chuckling, Ishbia should not have been anywhere near the court Sunday night when a mountain man from the Rockies — the 6-11, 285-pound Nikola Jokic, by way of Serbia — wanted the ball that Ishbia was grasping so the Denver Nuggets could initiate an offensive possession. The ball had bounced to him as Suns forward Josh Okogie dove into the stands, and, like any other person sitting at courtside, protocol called for the owner to quickly throw the ball to the nearest official or back onto the court. By clutching the ball like a baby — like a benchwarmer ready for action, as his Hall of Fame guest, Isiah Thomas, sat beside him — he was asking for trouble during Game 4 of a hotly contested Western Conference semifinal series.
Trouble found him in the hulking form of Jokic, the two-time league MVP, whose feet remained on the hardwood as he rushed up to Ishbia and tried to wrestle away the ball. Rather than relinquish it and let the Nuggets proceed late in the second quarter, he punched the ball away from Jokic, which created a stir among nearby fans and angered the enemy big man. This is where Ishbia, in his green jacket and blue Nikes, should have sat down in his seat. Instead, he remained on his feet, ever the contentious backup point guard, and made a second mistake of putting a hand on Jokic’s left hip/buttock. That is when Jokic responded with the forearm shove that might have shifted the series — for emotional reasons, among others — in favor of the team Ishbia bought in December.
With a flop worthy of the WWE ring, Ishbia finally fell into his seat. Thomas, a TNT studio analyst and former league owner and executive, responded like he still was playing, too — by making a run at Jokic’s midsection. Finally, a game official and security personnel intervened, and Jokic was assessed a technical foul for the shove. Not only was this decision unfair — the owner made contact with Jokic first — Ishbia is very, very lucky that a disturbance didn’t break out. He should have known better as a grown man and NBA owner who needn’t be engaging opponents during game action. More to the point, he grew up rooting for the Detroit Pistons and remembers the horror of the league’s ugliest melee, Malice at the Palace, when players and fans brawled in an arena not far from where he attended high school and still does business.
Ever mindful of fan and player safety, commissioner Adam Silver could have made an example of Jokic and suspended him for a game. Fortunately, he did not, assessing a $25,000 fine instead. The league’s lead disciplinarian, Joe Dumars, knows Ishbia well, played with Thomas on the Bad Boys teams and could have sided with the Suns. Fortunately, he did not. Remember, Jokic’s sneakers were still on the hardcourt as he asked for the ball. He did not enter the seating area until Ishbia held what belonged to the Nuggets. As lead official Tony Brothers said after Phoenix’s series-tying victory, explaining why Jokic wasn’t ejected: “I just deemed the technical foul the appropriate penalty for what happened over there,” said Brothers. “(Jokic) didn’t just run over and hit a fan. There was some engagement, so I deemed the technical foul the appropriate penalty.”
Interesting how Brothers and the Denver principals, Jokic and coach Michael Malone, referred to Ishbia as a fan. Technically, he is a spectator, but by nature of his Suns allegiance, yes, he is a fan — a superfan. The league doesn’t need courtside antics from another owner, having finally subdued Mark Cuban after years of madness.
“The fan put the hand on me first. I thought the league was supposed to protect us, or whatever” said Jokic, whose 53-point, 11-assist masterpiece went for naught. “Maybe I am wrong. I know who he is, but he is a fan. Isn’t he?”
Said Malone: “(Jokic) is going to get the ball and some fan is holding on to the ball like he wants to be part of the game. Just give the ball up, man.”
They knew Ishbia was the owner. And both Denver viewpoints are right, in theory. The league should protect players when someone in the crowd makes physical contact, as Ishbia did, however lightly. And no spectator should hold onto the ball when an opposing player demands it. To be clear, Ishbia is no Cuban. He took to social media Monday morning and said Jokic shouldn’t be suspended or fined. “Great win for the Suns last night in an amazing series so far! That should be and is the only story," he tweeted. “Suspending or fining anyone over last night’s incident would not be right. I have a lot of respect for Jokic and don't want to see anything like that. Excited for game 5! Go Suns!”
That said, he also is fortunate to have avoided a penalty himself. Imagine if a rogue owner — Daniel Snyder comes to mind — put a hand on an enemy player during a game. Ishbia happens to be a golden boy, with a net worth of $7 billion, as the youngest controlling owner in North American pro sports. When he and his brother, Justin, agreed to buy more than 50 percent of the Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, they saved the NBA from the filthy reign of Bob Sarver, who sold the teams under pressure after a trail of workplace misconduct. They inherited the instant pressure of delivering an NBA championship, and Ishbia responded in kind by acquiring Kevin Durant, who has teamed with Devin Booker as a blurry postseason tandem. He also is guiding Brittney Griner’s return to the Mercury after her 10-month Russian detention. In the business forefront, he’s trying to form a new media distribution outlet in the booming Phoenix market, confronting a bankrupt system of regional sports networks that eventually will perish.
Mat Ishbia is a savvy, young owner who will be a sports industry leader for decades. He will win championships and make more billions. He will own an NFL franchise after trying to buy the Washington Commanders and — sirens at 5,280 feet above sea level! — the Denver Broncos. He is way too busy and much too accomplished to play schoolyard games with Nikola Jokic.
Next time, give up the damned ball. Or take his pick of an arena suite. Pit bulls are better off up there.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.