Dillon Brooks ejected for dirty nut punch in Rockets debut after 5 minutes

Dillon Brooks is up to his old, dirty tricks.

Dillon Brooks is starting the 2023-2024 season on a new team, but he’s still up to his old tricks. The veteran wing signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the Houston Rockets over the offseason after the team that drafted and developed him, the Memphis Grizzlies, said he would not be brought back under any circumstances.

After landing a huge bag of cash in free agency, Brooks helped Canada to a bronze finish at the 2023 FIBA World Cup that punched his home country’s ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics. It would be an understatement to say Brooks had a good summer.

On Tuesday, Brooks played his first game as a Rocket when Houston took on the Indiana Pacers in the NBA preseason. Brooks’ debut lasted all of five minutes: he was promptly ejected for hitting Daniel Theis in the family jewels as he tried to navigate a screen. Watch the play and Brooks’ ejection here:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Brooks made a dirty play and got busted. Hitting someone between the legs in the preseason is a new low.

In case you haven’t been keeping tabs, we’ve already seen Brooks get suspended for a mid-air body check on Gary Payton II on a play that fractured his elbow in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. Last season, Brooks beefed with both Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, talk trash to LeBron, and hit Donovan Mitchell between the legs for no apparent reason.

The Rockets signed Brooks for his tough wing defense. They hoped to get a new version of Brooks both with improved shot selection and improved restraint. If the preseason is any indication, Brooks is still going to continue blurring the line between hard-nosed and dirty play on a routine basis.