Lakers News: Experts, Players Wonder If Dillon Brooks Will Be Suspended In Game 4

And would that actually be a bad thing for Memphis?

Your Los Angeles Lakers rode an amazingly dominant first quarter all the way to a 111-101 Game 3 home victory over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies last night, in their ongoing playoff series.

As has been the case throughout this best-of-seven matchup, the pettiness of Dillon Brooks almost overshadowed the entire game. This time, he hit LA All-Star LeBron James in the crotch. For his efforts, the Grizzlies' starting small forward was instantly assessed a flagrant-2 technical foul and ejected from the proceedings early into the second half.

Now, both Mark Medina of The Sporting News and Joe Vardon of The Athletic wonder if Brooks will face further punitive action for his shenanigans, specifically a potential one-game ban.

Both teams' respective stars weighed in on the question after the game.

“I don’t know. I’m not part of the committee,” James offered about a potential Brooks suspension, per Medina. “If he’s in the lineup or he’s out of the lineup, we have to prepare no matter what. I look forward to the challenges that Monday will bring.”

Memphis All-Star point guard Ja Morant already took umbrage with Brooks' initial ejection from the game, believing that penalty was too harsh for what he deemed to have been an inadvertent act. So clearly a suspension would also be a bridge too far.

“Knowing how they (the NBA league office) treat Dillon, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he is (suspended),” Morant reflected, according to Vardon. “I felt like he was ejected because of past ejections that were made in games before. If you look at the play, he was actually reaching for the ball on a crossover, 'Bron just went behind the back."

“Obviously he got hit somewhere that’s tough for a man," Morant continued. "So, flagrant-1, OK. But ejection? I don’t agree with it at all.”

For his part, Vardon believes that whether or not the NBA buys that Brooks' actions were intentional could determine whether or not he sits Monday. Vardon adds that Brooks is no stranger to occasional cheap-shot fouls, including a punch to the same anatomical area for Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell earlier this year and a hard hit to the head  of Golden State Warriors reserve guard Gary Payton II.

I agree that a suspension in addition to the ejection feels like overkill, though unlike Morant, I believe that the hit was deliberate. Certainly, Brooks must have been hoping not to get caught, but when he was, his ejection seemed justifiable.

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