If Ja Morant returns to the court Wednesday as expected, his Grizzlies teammate Dillon Brooks will probably miss it.
If you’re wondering why, it’s because Brooks wanted to let Dallas Mavericks reserve Theo Pinson know “he’s a cheerleader.”
“I grew up watching him play. He’s a great basketball player, and now he’s paid to cheerlead,” Brooks deadpanned, wearing a cardigan with no shirt underneath, dark slacks and dark sunglasses in the Grizzlies’ locker room after Monday’s 112-108 win.
The actual reason Brooks will likely miss the Grizzlies’ game Wednesday against Houston is that he almost surely will be suspended. He was slapped with a technical, his 18th this season, after he dunked over the Mavericks’ Maxi Kleber in the third quarter, then continuously gestured toward Pinson on the bench that he was, in fact, a cheerleader.
It’s an automatic one-game suspension unless the NBA reviews the infraction and rescinds the tech.
“This one might be a hard one to get back,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins opined.
“At this point, I don’t think we even try anymore,” Brooks said.
March 3 will forever be remembered as a fateful day in Grizzlies history — the last game before Morant’s suspension for wielding a gun in public while intoxicated and the day of Brandon Clarke’s Achilles tear — and Brooks earning his 16th technical of the season in Denver is among the reasons. Starting with No. 16, players are suspended for every other tech and fined $5,000 per infraction.
