Lakers News: How Dillon Brooks Embraced Villain Persona To Medal Against Team USA
Last season in first round of the 2023 playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers were forced to deal with small forward Dillion Brooks and the Memphis Grizzlies. LA handled Memphis in six games, but Brooks made himself into one of the more memorable playoff pests in recent memory.
He trash-talked star LeBron James the entire series, but unfortunately for him, he couldn’t back up his talk. It led to people ridiculing Brooks and ultimately saw him leave Memphis for the Houston Rockets in the offseason.
During this summer, Brooks was a part of Team Canada in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. He balled out, helping Canada clinch their first-ever medal in international play since 1936. This includes a major performance in the bronze medal game to help them take down Team USA.
He scored 39 points to help put Team USA away, and after the game, Brooks spoke about embracing the new role that people now see him as, the villain, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
“It’s just a persona. People love it. I’ve grown to love it myself,” Brooks said. It certainly helped provoke Luka Dončić into the first of two technicals that ultimately disqualified Slovenia’s superstar from their quarterfinals loss to Canada. “I guess that’s my persona, ‘The Villain.’”
If Brooks is going to play as he did in this tournament next season, the NBA better watch out. But oftentimes, players have a chip on their shoulders when they play in international competition. It just means more to them when they are performing for their country and not an NBA team.
“Obviously, the hate doesn’t stop. It keeps going,” Brooks said. “But just having my country behind me, my head coach behind me, the general manager, all these guys behind me trying to have me succeed”
Brooks and Canada got the last laugh over Team USA, which featured Lakers guard Austin Reaves. He remembers the antics of Brooks very well, and this just adds to the growing rivalry. If anything, when the Rockets and Lakers match up next season, it should be must-watch TV.
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