David Adelman Still Upset Over Lu Dort 'Cheap Shot'

In the fourth quarter of Friday's nationally televised tilt between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, Thunder defensive ace Lu Dort was ejected due to a flagrant II foul as it was ruled he purposefully tripped Nikola Jokic and was thus thrown out.

Oklahoma City went on to beat the Nuggets, 127-121, in an overtime period that did not feature Dort, Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, or starting big man Isaiah Hartenstein, the latter two out due to a minute restriction.

After the game, each team was asked about the dust-up. From Dort's tripping of Jokic to the Nuggets MVP being locked arms with Thunder bench big man Jaylin Williams.

Denver, expectedly so, did not take kindly to the events that led to a mid-court meeting between both sides.

"It's an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction," Jokic said following the game Friday. "There is no such thing — I think there's not supposed to be those things on a basketball floor. So, it was just an unnecessary move and a necessary reaction by me."

The Thunder were also asked about the events. Including Oklahoma City head coach Mark Daigneault following the team's win on Friday.

"If you were watching the game, I think you could see very clearly that it was a chippy game. These are two teams that played each other in a seven-game series. We're in the same division. We play each other 100 times. They know our playbook. We know their playbook. It's just what it is. It's going to be an imperfect game. Things, they escalate like that sometimes. I know Lu, I know Jokic, I know J-Will. I don't think anybody's trying to hurt anybody. They're just great competitors. That's what I thought. They just boiled over. I think it was nothing more than that. I will say this — if J-Will is running up the floor and gets tripped, we expect a flagrant two from this point forward. That's the precedent. If that becomes a malicious play, and flagrant two is the line in the sand on that, we would expect that," Daigneault said.

Williams, who tangoed with Jokic around the timeline during that fourth quarter, kept it simple. “Just two teams competing. That’s all I got to say."

These answers from the Thunder's side were not satisfactory to Denver Nuggets bench boss David Adelman. 36 hours later, pregame before the Nuggets game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, as Denver again fell this time 117-108, he wanted to rehash Friday night's get-together.

"[Jokic is] more a measured person throughout the season, because, I mean, most people are –– they're more productive if measured. But there's a point where we play these games and what he deals with nightly, anybody would react that way. And then for Dort to take that shot –– and then I guess it wasn't that big of a deal from their standpoint, how they looked at it –- is ridiculous. That was malicious. It was a cheap shot, Lu Dort's a great player, and that's not what I've seen him do before. But at some point, you have to stand up for yourself, and the team does as well. So they're a great team. That game was what it was. But yeah, Nikola [Jokic], that's who he is, man. You can't have the success that he's had and not be that competitive," Adelman said.

This diatribe forced ESPN's Tim MacMahon to ask Daigneault for a response. He again kept it simple.

"I would echo and repeat what I've said every time we've played Denver for a long time, which is I have nothing but respect for [the Denver Nuggets]. We have nothing but respect for Denver. We have respect from top to bottom. We certainly have respect for [Nikola] Jokic, [Aaron] Gordon, [Jamal] Murray, just because those guys have endured together for so long and had so much success, but we have respect for their staff. I mentioned that last year, after the playoffs. Like I said, I have nothing but the highest respect. I said it the other night –– the teams make each other better. It is a great matchup because of that, and that's all I'd say about it," Daigneault said in response ahead of Sunday's tip against the Dallas Mavericks.

Who knows if this last answer from the Thunder bench boss will satisfy Adelman's Nuggets; the Thunder don't care either way. These two teams meet again, in the Paycom Center, on March 9.

With 36 hours of distance from the Nikola Jokic/Lu Dort incident, Nuggets coach David Adelman called it a cheap shot this morning and said it was "ridiculous" for OKC to not think it was a big deal. He spoke about seeing the fiery side of Nikola Jokic come out: pic.twitter.com/D1vlL4Ermv
— Bennett Durando (@BennettDurando) March 1, 2026

Asked for his response to these comments from Denver’s David Adelman, OKC coach Mark Daigneault spoke broadly about the respect the Thunder have for the Nuggets. https://t.co/vmNHrUUXHL pic.twitter.com/I9XPCuPcKh
— Tim MacMahon (@BannedMacMahon) March 2, 2026