Blazers' Jusuf Nurkic Misses Trash Talking With Sixers' Ben Simmons

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to keep sports out of action, the Sixers and the rest of the NBA haven't played a single game in over two months now. For some, however, it's been a little while longer. 

Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic recently mentioned he missed basketball. While he's grouped in with hundreds of other NBA players with that thought, the Blazers big man has missed the game for a lot longer than most.

March 25th, 2019 was the last time Nurkic took the floor. For the past year, the Bosnian center has been rehabbing from a severe leg injury, which he suffered late last season. The 25-year-old Blazer was planning on getting back on the court in March of 2020, but the NBA's suspension prevented that from happening.

And earlier this week, an old clip from last season containing a trash-talking exchange between Nurkic and Sixers guard Ben Simmons reminded Nurkic just how much he misses the game of basketball right now.

Oh, the memories. Last season, the Sixers played Portland twice, and let's just say the outcome was never pretty for the 76ers. Last season, the Blazers had Philly's number, and Jusuf Nurkic was feeling quite confident knowing that. 

Therefore, during the second matchup against the Sixers last year, Nurkic decided to attempt to get in the head of Ben Simmons. Typically, Simmons keeps his composure and lets his game for itself. 

But this specific time, Simmons let the Blazers center get the best of him, which created an interesting exchange after the Sixers' two-time All-Star missed an easy free throw. And at the time, the television broadcast picked it up. After re-visiting the moment on Twitter, Nurkic had a good laugh and claimed he missed the game.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_