Jusuf Nurkić, Portland’s excellent but injured big man, has been occasionally spotted supporting his team from the sideline during the playoffs. This support sometimes makes use of fashion. During the Blazers’ Game 6 win on Thursday, the big man wore a t-shirt with a list of 10 names. Here are those names:
Izet Nanić
Safet Hadžić
Mehdin Hodžić
Midhat Hujdur
Hajrudin Mešić
Safet Zajko
Enver Šehović
Adil Bešić
Nesib Malkić
What do these people have in common? All of them died between the years 1992 and 1995, fighting for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Bosnian War. The war was primarily fought between a Bosnian Muslim majority and the ethnic Serb/Croat minorities within the region.
Nurkić is a Bosnian Muslim. Nikola Jokić, his former teammate and current opponent averaging 27/14/9 in the series, is ethnically Serbian. Perhaps this is pure coincidence and Nurkić just reached for the nearest crisp white tee on his shelf. If not, consider this an escalation from the shirt that teased Russell Westbrook’s poor shooting.
After the Nuggets’ loss, Jokić had some kind words for his old pal.