Nikola Jokic's two brothers, Nemanja and Strahinja, are both elephantine and older than the MVP by over a decade. Back in the day they were terrors to chubby little Nikola—he recounted once having his arms held down while Strahinja threw knives around his head, just because Nikola had refused to climb a tree—but these days they are his guardians. Anyone who's seen enough Denver Nuggets games, even on television, should be familiar with their girthy physiques and constant belligerence.
When Nikola and Devin Booker had a little dustup in the 2021 NBA playoffs, Nemanja and Strahinja appeared ready to storm the court and administer their own unpleasant form of justice. It should be noted that Nemanja is a mixed martial artist, and Strahinja was arrested in 2019 by Denver police for second-degree assault of a woman. (He pleaded guilty to lesser charges in February 2020.)
Within the confines of the NBA, the Morris twins may well be the siblings most committed to stealthy violence, and they are loathsome and reckless in their way, but they seem well out of their depth in this fight. Late in Monday night's Nuggets 113-96 victory over the Heat, Markieff Morris jabbed Jokic in the ribs with an elbow while slamming into him knee-to-knee; the MVP leveled him with a retaliatory shoulder to the spine.
Marcus Morris wrote that he had "NOTED" Jokic's offense, as if readying his elbows for the next Nuggets-Clippers matchup on Dec. 26. The next morning, he received a response from a curious Twitter account:
Denver Post beat reporter Mike Singer confirmed that the "Jokic Brothers" account, sending messages signed by "Jokic Brothers," belonged to the Jokic brothers, and that they had created it on Tuesday morning. At time of writing, it follows only one account: Nikola's dearest teammate Jamal Murray.
Fights haven't been real in the NBA for almost two decades; they are rather real to the Jokic Brothers. I am in no position to give advice to the Morris twins, and I do not particularly wish them well, but I cannot in good conscience recommend that they "make a step further."
