Suns Owner Mat Ishbia: Nikola Jokic Shouldn't be Suspended

The Phoenix Suns' 129-124 Game 4 victory against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night did not come without controversy.

During the second quarter after the ball sprung out of bounds into Suns’ owner Matt Ishbia’s hands Nikola Jokic tried to take the ball but Ishbia refused to give it up. This ultimately led to Jokic lightly shoving Ishbia back into his chair, which he received a technical foul for.

With talks of a potential suspension for Jokic leading into Game 5, Ishbia came to the two-time MVP’s defense.

“Great win for the Suns last night in an amazing series so far! That should be and is the only story. Suspending or fining anyone over last nights incident would not be right. I have alot of respect for Jokic and don’t want to see anything like that. Excited for game 5! Go Suns!” Ishbia tweeted following Game 4:

Despite the kind words from Ishbia, Jokic did not reciprocate and was not happy about the incident.

"He told me I was elbowing the fan, but the fan put the hand on me first. I thought the league was supposed to protect us or whatever, but maybe I'm wrong. We will see," he said following the game.

"He's a fan isn't he? Sitting on the court, he's a fan, isn't he? He's a fan. He can't influence the game by holding the ball."

Through the first four games of this series, Jokic has averaged 36.5 points, 14 rebounds and 9.5 assists, so a suspension to him would be a huge turning point for both Denver and Phoenix. He scored 53 points in last night's loss. 

While the players are not allowed to interfere with fans, a suspension to a player of this magnitude is unlikely especially with Ishbia speaking out on the behalf of Jokic.

This altercation however has certainly brought a little more entertainment to a playoff series that has already been extremely exciting.