Jusuf Nurkic reveals his grandma passed from COVID-19 before Blazers' play-in game

BarDown Staff

h/t Instagram/bosnianbeast27

The Portland Trail Blazers are off to the playoffs, after taking care of the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA’s play-in round. They were led in part by a 22-point, 21-rebound performance from starting center Jusuf Nurkic, who took to the court after learning that his grandmother had passed away from COVID-19.

He announced the news of her passing on his Instagram account early Saturday morning.

Inna lillahi we inna ilejhi radži'un. “Svi smo Allahovi i Njemu se vraćamo” #ripgrandma #loveyou

A post shared by Jusuf Nurkić (@bosnianbeast27) on Aug 15, 2020 at 9:51am PDT

After the game, Nurkic revealed that he struggled with the decision to play at first, but said that he chose to because that’s what his grandma would’ve wanted.

A grieving Jusuf Nurkic on 22 points & 21 rebounds in Blazers win over Grizzlies after learning of grandmother’s death following covid-19 battle: “I didn’t want to play. She made me play... I’m glad we won and are in the playoffs. That’s what we came for.” pic.twitter.com/6HwYwe9XDq
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) August 15, 2020

While the NBA’s Orlando bubble has remained impressively free of the coronavirus so far, the reality is still that there’s a pandemic going on and this is a stressful time for many players away from the court.

Nurkic’s teammate CJ McCollum showed support for the big man on social media after the game, and he was terrific in the Blazers’ effort to secure a playoff berth on Saturday.