Aaron Brooks was frustrated. Which is something he has in common with the entire Sacramento fan base, but that’s another topic.
The Kings had just fallen to the 104-102 to the Utah Jazz and Brooks was ticked — with 15 seconds to go he had driven the lane and thought he was fouled but nothing was called. The Jazz got the ball back and set up a Gordon Hayward wide open game winner. Brooks was still livid.
So he threw his mouthpiece into the stands (watch the video and you can see Brooks start to make the move near the top of the key after the Kings miss their game-tying shot).
That’s going to cost him $25,000. The league office announced the fine Monday, saying it was for “throwing his mouthpiece into the stands.”
This is not something new, there are multiple reports of fines for this amount for this exact act, going back at least to Kirk Hinrich (then in his first Bulls run) in April of 2007. This is pretty standard for the league. (Rashard Lewis got fined back in 2003 for throwing his mouthpiece at a ref.)
Let this be a lesson kids, your mouthpiece should stay in your mouth.