Rockets' Dillon Brooks Fined $25K for Hitting Pacers' Daniel Theis in Groin

Small forward Dillon Brooks' ejection from the Houston Rockets' Tuesday preseason game is set to be an expensive one.

Brooks was fined $25,000 for "recklessly making contact" with the groin of Indiana Pacers center Daniel Theis, the NBA announced Thursday.

The incident led to Brooks' ejection in the first quarter of the Rockets' 122-103 win.

Brooks was last financially penalized by the league in April, when he accrued a $25,000 fine for not speaking to reporters during the Memphis Grizzlies' first-round series loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Brooks told reporters after the game the contact with Theis was unintentional, per ESPN.

"I tried to navigate a screen," Brooks said Tuesday. "I might have tapped him below the waist, but he got right back up. I don't know. It's weird that every time it happens to me, I get picked on. I guess it's part of reputation."

Prior to the postseason fine, Brooks had lost a total of $248,242 through fines and suspensions, according to The Commercial Appeal's Damichael Cole.

Brooks' fines last season included a $35,000 slip in March following a sideline collision with a cameraperson, as well as a $20,000 fine and suspension in February after an on-court altercation with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.

Brooks was also suspended without pay twice in March after exceeding the league's technical foul limit. Players begin receiving automatic suspensions without pay after accruing 16 technical fouls in one season, according to NBA rules.

Brooks' 18 technicals trailed only the Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green for the most in the league.

After averaging 14.3 points per game in the regular season through 73 starts for the Grizzlies, Brooks' production dropped to 10.5 points in Memphis' six-game series loss.

Brooks signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the Houston Rockets in July after the Grizzlies informed him he wouldn't be retained in free agency, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported.