Brook Lopez Attempts to Explain Scuffle With Gary Trent Jr. and Strange Headband Throw

Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez had a strange reason for throwing Gary Trent Jr.'s headband during a scuffle with the Toronto Raptors

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Brook Lopez seems to have lost his mind.

The Milwaukee Bucks center was ejected for the first time in his NBA career Tuesday night following a strange scuffle with Toronto Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. It seemed to start with some subtle pushing back and forth before Lopez escalated the incident, pushing Trent toward the baseline out of bounds. Eventually, Lopez decided to take things even further, ripping Trent's headband off and throwing it away.

Why?

"It was just driving me so insane, I had to do something," Lopez joked with reporters post-game. "It was talking to me. ... You know how serial killers say the dog in their apartment building was talking? It was talking to me."

Joe Ingles demanded to know what Lopez disliked about Gary Trent's headband.

That led to Lopez giving a full breakdown of the abnormal behavior happening inside his head: pic.twitter.com/H2lA3MVfsq

— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) January 18, 2023

Lopez received two technical fouls on the play for escalating the incident. Both O.G. Anunoby and Raptors assistant coach Jamaal Magloire also received technical fouls.

"Look, I was a real good person," Lopez continued. "Apparently, like Steve Trent, whatever the guy's name is, he wanted to hold me. He wanted to hold me, that's how good of a person I was."

Unfortunately, Ingles missed this answer as he walked to grab a postgame meal.

So, he came back from the player's lounge demanding an answer and conducted his own line of questioning.

Here is that back-and-forth: pic.twitter.com/IvpUMW2uYM

— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) January 18, 2023

Lopez did get the last laugh though. Toronto went on a brief run following his ejection that included some big-time buckets in the paint against Milwaukee's suddenly-suspect interior defense. But it wasn't enough and the Bucks survived even without Lopez for the final few minutes.

Further Reading

Fred VanVleet shoots the lights out but Bucks' shooters too hot for Raptors

Raptors open critical road trip with crucial overtime victory over Knicks

Raptors searching for answers as inconsistent energy plagues disappointing season