Fan allegedly made mother, grandmother remarks at Nurkic

Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic was fined $40K. Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Report: Pacers fan allegedly made mother, grandmother remarks at Trail Blazers' Jusuf Nurkic

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 3/22/22

A courtside confrontation between an Indiana Pacers fan and Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic on Sunday night has gained loads of attention on social media. On Tuesday afternoon, the NBA announced that the Blazers big was fined $40,000 for the incident that saw him approach the fan, grab the fan's cell phone and toss it to the side.

Now, according to Yahoo Sports senior NBA insider Chris Haynes, we may know why Nurkic acted the way he did.

The fan who Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic confronted in Indiana allegedly shouted “your mom is trash” and said his “grandma’s a b**tch,” league sources tell @YahooSports. Nurkic’s grandma passed away of COVID-19 in 2020.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 22, 2022

Nurkic didn't play during Sunday's contest and has missed the last 12 games due to a foot injury. The 27-year-old has averaged 15.0 points, a career-high 11.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game over 56 contests this season.

He's also posted a career-best 53.5% field goal percentage, but Portland currently sits outside of the playoff picture with a 27-44 record.

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