Jusuf Nurkic got into a fight with Naji Marshall and P.J Washington during the Dallas Mavericks’ 98-89 win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Suns big man Nurkic was called for an offensive foul while being guarded by Daniel Gafford with 9:02 left in the third quarter before the altercation quickly escalated.
Nurkic starting going at it with Mavericks wing Naji Marshall before aggressively swinging at his head.
Marshall responded with a punch of his own as officials stepped in and attempted to separate the two. During the melee, Mavs forward PJ Washington threw Nurkic to the ground as coaches and teammates crowded around those involved.
The referees eventually reviewed the play before deciding that all three players would be ejected.
As chaos ensued, Mavs superstar guard Kyrie Irving was every NBA fan watching on with their jaw hovering above the floor.
His reaction drew some pretty amusing comments.
“Dawg Kyrie’s face in that scuffle has me dying,” joked one fan.
“Kyries looking deep into Nurkic’s spiritual presence,” added another.
“Kyrie’s such a pure hooper he doesn’t even process what’s going on,” a third wrote.
“That’s the real life [shocked face emoji],” a fourth commented.
After the game, Kyrie explained his look and why he appeared so confused.
“I was a little confused. It happened so quickly,” Irving said.
“Moments like that, you just want everybody to be protecting themselves. I feel like that’s what PJ was doing for Naji. Naji after he got hit, he was just protecting himself. If we’re out on the street, even if we’re not playing basketball, you gotta put your hands up and at least swing back.”
Irving also said that he would pay teammates Washington and Marshall’s fines for being ejected, while joking that fisticuffs is perhaps what the NBA needs right now in order to boost its declining ratings.
“I’ll take care of this fine. … PJ’s fine,” he said. “Their ejections. Yeah, throw that s*** under the rug, man. Excuse my language. It’s part of basketball sometimes. Haven’t seen it.
“Maybe that’s just the way we end 2024, where somebody actually swings in the NBA. Maybe that’ll help our ratings.”
Irving scored 20 points for the Mavs during the game while Suns superstar Kevin Durant logged a game-high 35 points.
The win saw the Luka Doncic-less Mavericks move to 20-11 for the season, good enough for 4th in the Western Conference standings, while Phoenix are at .500 (15-15) and tenth in the seedings.