The NBA fined Memphis Grizzlies small forward Dillon Brooks $25,000 for violating the league's media access policies during the first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars announced Sunday morning.
Brooks did not make himself available to the media after all three of the Grizzlies' road losses in Los Angeles. Brooks made himself one of the series' major storylines by disrespecting Lakers star LeBron James during his media session after the Grizzlies' Game 2 home win. «I don't care — he's old,» Brooks said when asked about a heated exchange of words between the two during that game. «I was waiting for that, I was expecting him to do that Game 4, Game 5, he wanted to say something when I got my fourth foul.
He shouldn't have said that earlier on. I poke bears. I don't respect anyone until they come and give me 40.» Brooks was ejected 17 seconds into the second half of Game 3 when he was called for a flagrant foul 2 after hitting James in the groin area.
When Brooks spoke to the media after practice the next day, he complained that he had been portrayed as a villain by media and fans and suggested that it influenced the flagrant 2 call against him.