Dillon Brooks has taken yet another premature trip to the locker room. The Phoenix Suns forward got ejected for the 10th time Friday night against the Denver Nuggets, as he got hit with a Flagrant 2 for kicking Jamal Murray in the groin while attempting a jump shot.
The referees determined Brooks' kick was "unnecessary and excessive." Murray, meanwhile, doesn't see it that way. The Nuggets star defended his fellow Canadian postgame, explaining with some colorful language that Brooks' kick was not deliberate.
"No, of course not," Murray said. "He's shooting the ball. I mean, he may have flopped a little bit, but I don't think he was really trying to kick me in the (expletive), though."
Brooks is one of the NBA's premier antagonists, a player who
went viral for hate-watching LeBron James in an elimination game. Still, his teammates think he gets a bad wrap. Miles Bridges explained postgame why he thinks another player in Brooks' position wouldn't have been punished as severely.
"I feel like if it was anyone else but Dillon doing that, he wouldn't have gotten ejected, but he has a name in this league," Bridges said. "He's the 'villain' of this league."
Like it or not, this is the reputation Brooks has built for himself.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jamal Murray has 32 words for Dillon Brooks after groin kick, ejection
