After posting historic numbers for the Hornets on Wednesday night in Brooklyn, Dwight Howard won’t suit up for the team’s game on Thursday vs. the Grizzlies. Howard has been suspended for one game after picking up his 16th technical foul of the season on Wednesday, the NBA confirmed today in a press release.
With 16.6 PPG and 12.2 RPG in 72 games for the Hornets this season, Howard is averaging a double-double for the 14th straight year, but Wednesday’s double-double may have been the most impressive of his career. The veteran center racked up an eye-popping 30 rebounds to go along with 32 points in Charlotte’s comeback victory over the Nets.
However, because he also picked up a technical foul in that game, Howard will sit out tonight’s game. NBA rules dictate a one-game suspension when a player reaches 16 technical fouls in a season. Howard, who was the first player to reach that 16-tech mark this season (Draymond Green has 15), would be suspended one additional game for every two technical fouls he earns going forward.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, Howard’s one-game ban will cost him just over $162K, 1/145th of his 2017/18 salary ($23.5MM). Under the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, a suspension resulted in a player losing 1/110th of his current-year salary, so Howard and other suspended players have saved a little money under the new CBA’s rules this season, Marks observes (via Twitter).