Strahinja Jokić, the older brother of Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić, pleaded responsible Friday to costs stemming from a struggle that occurred throughout an NBA playoff recreation in April 2024. He pleaded responsible to 1 depend of trespassing and one depend of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to 1 12 months of probation.
The incident drew widespread consideration after a brief video of the altercation circulated on social media following the Nuggets’ Sport 2 win in opposition to the Los Angeles Lakers final postseason. The clip, which was later cited in a police assertion of possible trigger, appeared to indicate a verbal change between the Jokić brothers and a fan earlier than one of many brothers struck the person within the face.
Investigators recognized Strahinja Jokić as the one who threw the punch. In keeping with police paperwork, he informed officers he “felt he’d carried out nothing flawed as a result of he was ‘defending an older man that he has recognized for a very long time.'”
The older Jokić was initially charged with third-degree assault however in the end pleaded responsible to lesser offenses as a part of a decision to the case. The incident didn’t contain his youthful brother, Nikola, who was on the court docket on the time of the playoff recreation.
Jokić’s older brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, are common fixtures courtside at Nuggets video games and have been protecting presences all through Nikola’s profession. It is not the primary time Strahinja has confronted authorized bother in Denver. In 2019, he was arrested for allegedly choking and pushing a lady throughout an altercation inside an house. He was charged with second-degree assault, false imprisonment and obstruction of cellphone service, later pleading responsible in 2020 to felony trespassing and a misdemeanor depend of obstruction. The remaining costs had been dismissed.
The Jokić brothers have additionally been concerned in a number of public incidents tied to Nikola’s on-court altercations. In 2021, they traded social media messages with NBA gamers Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris after a scuffle between Nikola and Markieff throughout a recreation in opposition to the Miami Warmth. That very same 12 months, video surfaced of Strahinja and Nemanja shouting at Phoenix Suns gamers from the stands following a tough foul involving Nikola through the playoffs.
Whereas Nikola Jokić has largely stayed away from controversy, his brothers’ passionate help has at occasions drawn consideration away from the three-time MVP’s dominance on the court docket.
