“Don’t Got Enough Money to Be Getting Fined $5000”: Suns Rookie on Trying to De-escalate Jusuf Nurkic-Mavericks Altercation

Chaos ensued at Footprint Center in the third quarter of the game between the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks as Suns center Jusuf Nurkic got into a fistfight with the Mavs’ Naji Marshall and was later shoved to the ground by P.J. Washington. While his teammate was being double-teamed in the fight, Suns rookie Ryan Dunn was busy separating the players.

When he was later asked why he chose to de-escalate the situation, Dunn had a hilarious reply to that. Although he first acknowledged that breaking the tension was the right approach in that situation, he had another reason to not get into the action himself.

Dunn said, “I’m a rookie. I don’t have enough money to be getting fined $5000. I can’t throw a punch, but just trying to de-escalate it.”

Being slapped with a hefty fine as a rookie wouldn’t be a good look for Dunn. In the second half as Dallas led Phoenix 60-44, things took a turn for the worse when Nurkic was called for an offensive foul on Daniel Gafford.

The center turned back and started moving toward Kyrie Irving, Washington, and Marshall while Gafford was still on the floor. Angered by Nurkic’s foul, Marshall had some words for him which didn’t sit well with the Bosnian. He ended up slapping Marshall on the side of his head which was followed by a punch from the Mavs forward.

Then Washington got into the fight and shoved Nurkic to the ground for slapping his teammate. Within seconds, there was a full-blown brawl on the floor and all the players and support staff had to come to the rescue. At the post-game presser, Kevin Durant shared his thoughts on what happened on the floor.

The Suns superstar didn’t pick sides and stated that he understands both perspectives in the incident. He said, “It’s an unfortunate situation but I understood what Dallas was thinking, their perspective and being frustrated out there.” Coach Mike Budenholzer stated that an altercation like this isn’t good for the Suns.

The Mavericks won the game 98-89, but that’s not going to be the end of it. As KD also talked about during the press conference, an altercation like this is likely to lead to suspensions and fines. Nurkic, Marshall, and Washington were ejected from the game immediately but some kind of a penalty is about to be slapped on all three.