Nobody thought of the need to add something like, “Don’t hold on to the ball and play keep-away.” It includes things like no profanity and no walking onto the court. There’s a code of conduct policy that comes with floor seats, and in some cases, it’s even taped to the chairs. They have too much of a vested interest to put them that close to the action. They own the team and sometimes the arena. They’ve become part of the scene of NBA games in every city now, and more importantly to the owners and the commissioner, those revenue streams aren’t going to be smothered and kicked into Row 7.īut here’s a policy the league should adopt: Ban owners from the court. There will be no campaign to move the obnoxious rich people off the court in this space. The guy looked like a former high school jock who shows up at the 20-year reunion and immediately tries to organize a skins-shirts pickup game. Many who are afforded front-row seats are there for reasons other than basketball: to be seen by others among the upper crust or “Succession” set to elevate their Q rating to help promote a movie or TV show or their music.Įven those who are actual fans of the team and/or know basketball aren’t going to intentionally hold the ball or fake a charge to benefit their team, as Ishbia appeared to be doing. Therein lies the difference between this incident and most other player-fan interactions. He reverted back to the guy who drew charges in practice.”

As expected, the NBA decided Monday not to suspend Jokić for any games in this playoff series.)Īs one NBA executive told The Athletic: “His basketball instincts kicked in. (Jokić received a technical for what officials believed was a shove.

Jokić attempted to pull the ball away, there was brief contact between the two, and then Ishbia followed with the mother of all flops. Ishbia, a former basketball walk-on at Michigan State, a chip that never leaves a man’s shoulder, clutched the ball like it was one of his bank notes. The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić immediately and wisely went to the scene of the pileup to get the ball for an inbound play. The ball was grabbed by Suns owner Mat Ishbia. Late in the second quarter of the playoff game between the Suns and Nuggets, Josh Okogie of Phoenix was knocked off balance as he went into the corner for a loose ball and fell into the first two rows of fans. Well, there was a problem on the wood Sunday night. Around the NBA, these are known as “Feet on the Wood” seats. They moved sportswriters several rows back and, in many cases, upstairs and sold those prime seats to celebrities and other wealthy individuals, for whom six-digit-dollar season tickets aren’t a problem.

Going down in flames chris cannon