Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic has not been playing up to his usual standard so far this season. He broke out a bit tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves, scoring 17 points on 8-10 shooting. After the game, he also told The Athletic’s Jason Quick that off-season concerns kept him from entering the year in his usual physical and mental state.
Quick tweeted the explanation from Nurkic:
Another reminder that players are people first: Jusuf Nurkic says he is still dealing with the remnants of a family issue in Bosnia that led to his reporting to Portland right before camp started.