After the Sacramento Kings defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 115-107 Monday night at home, NBA champion Iman Shumpert went over to the visiting locker room to chat with Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s James Ham.
Iman Shumpert reportedly waited by the Blazers locker room after the game to talk to Jusuf Nurkic.
Jusuf’s response: “I’m not worried about it. He’s going into retirement soon. I just said what I said. I‘m not worried about a guy who’s going into retirement soon.”
Via @ESPN pic.twitter.com/HY5MHnkA1j
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 15, 2019
Shumpert later said that he wasn’t looking for a fight but was just trying to have a discussion with the center about a few plays that happened during the game. The two players exchanged words on the court in the first quarter after Shumpert attempted to go over a Nurkic screen.
“Some stuff just needs to be between me and him,” Shumpert said. “A conversation between two men. At the end of the day, this league is a bunch of men. A bunch of great men off the court. Some stuff happened that we needed to have a conversation about.”
When Nurkic was asked about the situation, he replied:
“I just said what I said. I’m not worried about him,” Nurkic said of the 28-year-old Shumpert. “I’m not worried about a guy who’s going into retirement soon.”
The veteran wing in the final year of his deal later took to Twitter telling fans, ‘Don’t believe the internet,’ in response to the reports of him waiting outside the Blazers’ locker room.
Don’t believe the internet.https://t.co/ZIjzlDiY52
I was respectful of their team’s space and privacy. I waited outside and asked to have a conversation. I was greeted by team security that talked to me and I left. No story. #scores win.
— Iman. (@imanshumpert) January 15, 2019
