After Lakers Series, Grizzlies Won't Re-Sign Dillon Brooks "Under Any Circumstances"
Memphis Grizzlies small forward Dillon Brooks staked his future on pestering the heck out of Los Angeles Lakers All-Star small forward LeBron James during the two teams' first round series, which Memphis was expected to win as the higher seed.
Instead, the Lakers beat the injury-depleted Grizz in six games, and Brooks' shooting got so terrible that fans and pundits alike were demanding he be pulled in favor of sharpshooting reserve Luke Kennard -- until Kennard had to sit out the team's eventual Game 6 closeout defeat after suffering a shoulder stinger midway through Game 5.
During the series, Brooks made numerous outrageous proclamations to the press about not fearing the future LA Hall of Famer, claiming James was past his prime (not untrue, but he's still one of the best 20 or so players in the league, and Brooks is, well, not), and resorted to some flat-out dirty plays in trying to defend the 19-time All-Star.
Brooks also responded incredibly immaturely to Memphis defeats, refusing to speak with reporters after three of the team's four losses in the series, behavior for which the league would later fine him $25K.
It all blew up in his face when James, clearly hobbled by the right foot tendon tear that had kept him sidelined for a month late into LA's 2022-23 regular season, still managed to have a pretty solid showing for the series. In the Grizzlies series, James is averaging 22.2 points on .486/.195/.677 shooting splits, a whopping 11.2 rebounds
Brooks, on the other hand, became almost unplayably bad on offense, while being competent on defense.
Across six playoff games this season, Brooks, 27, averaged a career playoff-worst 10.5 points on .312/.238/.714 shooting splits, 3.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and just 0.2 steals a night in 27.8 minutes. That represents a big regression from his career numbers of 14.5 points while shooting .416/.342/.795.
Now, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the Grizzlies front office has told its starting small forward that they will not re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent "under any circumstances."
That seems harsh, but then again, Brooks was a big reason why the second-seeded Grizzlies got booted out of the postseason in the first round of the playoffs to a play-in team.
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