Dillon Brooks Fined $25,000 for Below the Belt Shot in Rockets Debut

The NBA announced that it fined Rockets forward Dillon Brooks for “recklessly making contact” with Pacers center Daniel Theis’s groin during a preseason game.

Brooks, who signed a four-year, $80 million with the Rockets in the offseason, was ejected just over four minutes into his first preseason game with Houston. The guard was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul for hitting Theis below the belt while trying to fight through a screen on defense.

As a result, Brooks played just 4:33 after starting in his Rockets debut, totaling just one assist before heading back to the locker room.

Through the first six seasons of his career with the Grizzlies, Brooks became known as an aggravating defender who tried to get under the skin of opposing teams. That came to a head in the playoffs last season, when Brooks was ejected from a game for hitting LeBron James in the groin.

After the preseason game, Brooks said his reputation played a role in his ejection.

“For a Flagrant 2 foul, you really gotta know, like, that a person is doing that on purpose, like intentionally, you know,” Brooks said, via Michael Shapiro of The Houston Chronicle. “And that’s really going at who I am as a person. It just shows that he doesn’t really know who I am as a person, he’s just going based off of what’s being said.”