After Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic suffered his terrible leg injury last season at home against the Brooklyn Nets, a ref accidentally kicked his leg.
More than a year later after the injury, the Blazers big man opened up about that ref and his “careless” action:
“I was aware of it,” Jusuf Nurkic told Dwight Jaynes of NBC Sports Northwest. “I was on the floor and I felt somebody kick my leg and I actually asked when I got to the hospital, ‘Did somebody kick my leg?' They said yes.
“I truly believe he didn’t mean to do that. But at the same time, it could be construed as a careless move. Better to walk around an injured player than attempt to step over him, right?
“I don’t think there’s an excuse to try to step over somebody. But like I said, everybody do mistakes and that was his mistake.”
Nurkic has healed from his leg injury. He was supposed to make his 2019-20 season debut for the Blazers against the Houston Rockets prior to play getting suspended a few weeks ago due to COVID-19.
Last season for the Blazers, Nurkic put up a solid stat line of 15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 50.8 percent from the floor and 77.3 percent from the free-throw line. Portland went an impressive 45-27 when Nurkic was in the lineup.
The Blazers might have been able to compete with the Golden State Warriors better in the 2019 Western Conference Finals had Nurkic been active. Portland got swept by Golden State, but the games were all mostly competitive.
Nurkic, who began his pro career with the Denver Nuggets, has career NBA averages of 11.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 310 regular-season games with the Nuggets and Blazers.
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