Brooks now has 16 technical fouls on the season, which triggers an automatic one-game suspension
Brooks now has 16 technical fouls on the season, which triggers an automatic one-game suspension
Houston Rockets guard Dillon Brooks has reached the suspension limit for technical fouls after picking up his 16th of the season on Wednesday for kicking Utah Jazz guard Collin Sexton in the groin during a 143-105 win. Brooks finished the night with 21 points.
Just a few minutes into the game, Brooks posted Sexton up on the block and tried to spin into a turnaround jumper. Sexton had other ideas, however, and knocked the ball away as Brooks was going up. After losing the ball, Brooks flailed his limbs in a theatrical manner to try and draw a foul. Instead, he kicked the ball and then Sexton.
The result was a double whammy: a turnover for the kicked ball violation and a technical for the unnecessary contact to Sexton.
Brooks is never hesitant to voice his opinion to the officials or mix it up with opposing players — he was ejected from the Rockets’ win over the Phoenix Suns a few days ago after a scuffle with Kevin Durant — and is regularly among the league leaders in technicals. In fact, he’s reached double figures in that category in five consecutive seasons, with a career-high 18 in 2023.
Under NBA rules, once a player reaches 16 technical fouls during the regular season, that triggers an automatic one-game suspension. They will face an additional one-game suspension for every two technicals after that. Brooks will be suspended for the Rockets’ next game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday unless the league decides to rescind this technical.
Brooks is certainly hoping that’s the case, as is Rockets coach Ime Udoka, who said he did not think Brooks’ actions were intentional.
“Usually, those things are [considered] flagrants, and I guess [referee Tony Brothers] misspoke,” Brooks said. “I’ll be ready to play on Friday.”
If Brooks is indeed sidelined against the Western Conference-leading Thunder, that would be a big loss for the Rockets. For all his antics, Brooks remains one of the toughest perimeter defenders in the league, and the Thunder’s offense would be difficult to stop even if he was in the lineup.
The good news for the Rockets is that even if Brooks is suspended, they’re in pretty good shape in terms of playoff seeding. After Wednesday’s results, they have officially clinched a top-six spot in the Western Conference, and will be heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
They have a three-game lead over the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 2 seed. While there is still one game to play between the teams that will determine the tiebreaker, that’s a sizeable advantage with less than two weeks to play in the season.