NBA suspends DeMarcus Cousins one game for 18th technical foul

DeMarcus Cousins was hit with his NBA-high 18th technical foul of the season Monday, but also hoped the league would rescind it. After all, he had more technical fouls rescinded this season (three) than anyone else.

But the league offered no reprieve.

NBA release:

New Orleans Pelicans forward/center DeMarcus Cousins has been suspended one game without pay for receiving his 18th technical foul of the 2016-17 season, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

Cousins will serve his suspension on March 1 when the Pelicans host the Detroit Pistons

Players are suspended one game for their 16th technical foul and an additional game for every other technical foul after that.

Since that policy went into place in 2015, Cousins was the fastest to a suspension for 16 techs. Now, he joins Rasheed Wallace in 2006-07 and Dwight Howard in 2010-11 as the only players suspend for 18 techs. In fact, Cousins reached the 18-technical suspension earlier than anyone else received a 16-technical suspension.

Will Cousins become the first player with a 20-technical suspension? The Pelicans still have 21 more games after playing the Pistons. That’s a long time for him to avoid techs.