Tim MacMahonFeb 28, 2026, 02:57 AM ETCloseJoined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas MavericksAppears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FMFollow on XMultiple Authors
Lu Dort ejected after flagrant foul on Jokic (2:10)Luguentz Dort assessed a flagrant foul 2 and subsequently ejected for hip shot on Nikola Jokic. (2:10)
OKLAHOMA CITY — After Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic tumbled to the Paycom Center court early in the fourth quarter Friday night, he determined that he needed to react to what he considered a dirty tactic by Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort.
A chippy game between rivals who faced off in a seven-game series in last season’s Western Conference semifinals escalated into a heated confrontation at that point, resulting in Dort’s ejection and double technical fouls on Jokic and Oklahoma City center Jaylin Williams.
The fracas began when Dort appeared to trip Jokic as he ran up the court with 8:03 remaining in the fourth quarter. Dort backed into Jokic and stuck out his right foot, knocking down the big man, who quickly pounced to his feet to angrily confront Dort.
“It’s an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction,” Jokic said after the Nuggets’ 127-121 overtime loss to the defending champions. “There is no such thing — I think there’s not supposed to be those things on a basketball floor. So, it was just an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction by me.”
After Jokic chest-bumped Dort, Williams rushed over to intervene. Jokic and Williams exchanged shoves and grabbed each other’s jerseys as a scrum of players, coaches, officials and staffers formed around them and eventually separated them.
“I will say this: If [Williams] is running up the floor and gets tripped, we expect a flagrant 2 from this point forward,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s all. If that’s the precedent, if that becomes a malicious play and flagrant 2 is the line in the sand on that, we would expect that if it’s [Williams]. We would expect that if it’s anybody. And if that’s the case, we’re good.”
The referees determined that the actions of Jokic and Jaylin Williams during the altercation did not rise to the level of an ejection, James Williams said in the pool report.
The fracas overshadowed the return of reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 36 points on 12-of-29 shooting and dished out nine assists in 34 minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander sat out the overtime period because he had reached his minutes limit after missing the previous nine games because of an abdominal strain suffered Feb. 3.
“They’re obviously a high-level team, we’re a high-level team, and we’ve seen each other a lot in the past couple of years, so we might be a little bit more into the game just because we know the opponent,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It was fun. It was good out there. End-of-season basketball is like that. It’s that chippy, that physical, so it was good to get one of those in the regular season.”
The Nuggets fell to 4-7 since Jokic returned from a monthlong absence, including 1-6 in clutch games (within five points in the final five minutes) during that span. Jokic recorded his league-leading 22nd triple-double with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists against the Thunder, but his uncharacteristic recent shooting struggles continued, as he went 9-of-25 from the floor and 2-of-10 from 3-point range.
Jokic, who was 3-of-5 from the free throw line, animatedly protested no-calls after several of his shots. There were also multiple instances of Jokic bumping and shoving with Thunder players during the game.
Lu Dort ejected after flagrant foul on Jokic (2:10)Luguentz Dort assessed a flagrant foul 2 and subsequently ejected for hip shot on Nikola Jokic. (2:10)
Luguentz Dort assessed a flagrant foul 2 and subsequently ejected for hip shot on Nikola Jokic. (2:10)
Tim MacMahonFeb 28, 2026, 02:57 AM ETCloseJoined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas MavericksAppears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FMFollow on XMultiple Authors
CloseJoined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas MavericksAppears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FMFollow on X
“Just competing,” Williams told ESPN. “Two teams competing, that’s it. That’s all I got.”
The Nuggets and Thunder meet again March 9 in Oklahoma City.