Rockets: What we know so far about Sterling Brown’s incident

Shortly before the Houston Rockets took the court for their duel against the Miami Heat, the team gave a press release in which they stated that Sterling Brown was the victim of an assault. The Rockets’ official statement is below:

“Last night, Sterling Brown was the victim of an assault. He had no prior knowledge of or interaction with the assailants. He suffered facial lacerations but will make a full recovery. Sterling is not playing tonight because of his prior knee injury.”

These details were vague and left a lot to the imagination, as many worried about Brown and his well-being. Rockets coach Stephen Silas did his best to quell the concerns, by stating that he had spoken with Brown and added that he was going to be okay.

“Yeah, I have spoken to him. He’s doing better. The statement pretty much explains everything so I’m not really going to get into too much about it. I did speak to him and thankfully he’s going to be okay.”

What we know about Houston Rockets wing Sterling Brown’s incident thus far

Silas added that Brown is with the team on their road trip, which started on Sunday against the Orlando Magic and wraps up after Monday’s game against the Miami Heat. This led to questions regarding whether the altercation took place in Orlando or Miami, which was explained by Shams Charania of The Athletic, who stated that the encounter happened in Miami on Sunday night.

Charania added that Brown was jumped outside of a club late Sunday night in Miami and was hit in the head with a bottle during the encounter. These details have prompted more questions, and it seems unlikely that the public will be given more information, as this is now an ongoing legal situation, meaning that the team may not be able to elaborate any further.

Brown has missed the Rockets’ last four games with a knee injury and remains sidelined for an undefined amount of time, as he continues to recover from the knee injury.

The 26-year-old Brown has been one of the NBA’s faces against police brutality, as he was subject to excessive force by the Milwaukee Police Department in 2018, which later resulted in a settlement of $750,000 and an admission by the city that they had violated his civil rights. Brown became the spokesperson for the Milwaukee Bucks during the league’s period of unrest in the NBA’s bubble, following the unjustifiable shooting of Jacob Blake by the Kenosha Police Department, while Blake was unarmed.

Brown was one of the first unrestricted free agents that was signed by rookie Rockets GM Rafael Stone and has played stellar, especially considering that he was added on a veteran’s minimum deal of just $1.67 million for this season. Brown has led the team in 3-pointers with 91 and has made 42.3 percent of his triples, which ranks 17th in the league and has been a career-best for the 26-year-old sharpshooter.

There were reports that Brown had been garnering interest around the league at the trade deadline, but the Houston Rockets ultimately decided to hold on to him.

Fortunately Brown will be able to fully recover from Sunday’s incident and hopefully justice will be served as well.