Dillon Brooks Is Overhated, and I’d Take Him on My Team

I would like Dillon Brooks on my team, and I understand that puts me in the minority in roughly 29 arenas.

I was watching Warriors-Suns on Monday when Draymond Green got ejected, which barely counts as news (it’s Draymond). Early in the third quarter, Draymond pulled Khaman Maluach, Phoenix’s 7-foot-1 center, to the floor. Brooks, who is 6-foot-7, came over and got in Draymond’s face. Draymond grabbed him. Draymond walked off with two technicals and an early shower. Brooks got one technical. The Suns lost 116-113 anyway.

I’m not a guy who loves it when people fight. I think it’s a little overdone. Why are we throwing punches on a basketball court? Nobody threw one on Monday, as far as I could tell. If we have to have a fight, a grab and a few technicals is about the right size for it. But look at what actually happened: a 7-foot-1 man was on the floor, and the guy who showed up for him was 6-foot-7.

(Fun fact: the trade that brought Brooks to Phoenix, the one that sent Kevin Durant to Houston, also brought the pick the Suns used on Maluach. So technically, Brooks was defending a piece of his own shipment.)

That’s the part I liked. In an era where guys mostly don’t defend each other, and where most scuffles are two players with bad blood, this was a teammate sticking up for a teammate. It was nice to see. Yes, Brooks and Draymond have history, going back to the 2022 playoffs. Draymond has history with a lot of people. The guy on the floor was Maluach.

Brooks went over.

People hate Dillon Brooks. They hate him on purpose, and he knows it. His nickname is Dillon the Villain, which is the rare nickname that doubles as a scouting report. He plays the part the way a good wrestling heel does, where the boos are the job and the guy underneath seems relatively normal. ESPN ran a profile calling him the NBA’s biggest antagonist, and the surprising part of that story is how much his teammates love him. After Oklahoma City swept the Suns in the first round last spring, two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander posted a photo of Brooks’s jersey with “Cancun on 3” where “Brooks 3” should be, then said afterward that he was proud of him.

I get why fans of other teams can’t stand him. He talks trash to their players, he gets under their skin, and he talks like he’s going to outplay Kevin Durant. Is he a generational scorer? Probably not. He’s a high-level scorer and a glue guy, and this week had both. He had 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting Friday in Denver before he got thrown out, and on Monday he finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists (plus four turnovers and four fouls, because the villain has to show up at some point).

Then there’s the contract. The Suns gave him a three-year, $73 million extension in August, about $24 million a year, and he’s 30, so the skeptics have a point. That’s real money for a man who gets ejected from games. But he averaged about 20 a game last season, a career high, and he made an All-Defensive team in 2023. If he averages 20, I think the contract is worth it. Below that, I’d be writing a different column. You take that guy every year, and you take the leadership he seems to bring.

Most of the hate is aimed at the talking, and I think that’s the wrong target. The talking is the fun part. He does have his moments where he turns into Draymond, and I won’t pretend he doesn’t. Friday in Denver he was ejected, and the Jamal Murray kick was bad. Why are we doing that? It was a dirty play. A scrum is adrenaline, and everybody in it knows the deal. A kick at a guy who’s shooting a jumper is different, because he can’t protect himself, and that’s how other guys get hurt. I’m not defending it.

He also has a rocky history with LeBron (he was ejected last season after bumping him), and none of it changes what he does for a team. He absolutely kickstarts it. The Suns are 1-4, and a team in that spot needs somebody who makes every night feel like it matters. Brooks does that whether anyone asked him to or not. He’s the loud neighbor you can’t stand until somebody tries your car door, and then he’s already out in the driveway. Opposing fans only see the loud part. If I were his teammate, I’d like him.

Dillon, if you’re reading this (you’re not), no more kicking. Everything else, keep.

On Monday, a 7-foot-1 center was on the floor, and the 6-foot-7 guy was in Draymond Green’s face.