LeBron Nemesis ‘Dillon the Villain’: Should Dallas Mavs Sign Brooks?

DALLAS - The Memphis Grizzlies held high hopes for what the 2022-23 season could become, but ultimately fell well short from expectations. They dealt with no shortage of injuries to important players in addition to Ja Morant's off-court distractions. However, one player that created distractions won't be back: Dillon Brooks.

During the Grizzlies' playoff series against the Lakers, Brooks provided underwhelming impact. In 27.8 minutes per game, he averaged 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists with poor scoring efficiency — shooting 31.2 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent from 3-point range.

Brooks had become a constant source of trash-talking on and off the court during his time with the Grizzlies, not just limited to his exchanges with LeBron James. However, it cannot go overlooked that during what became a first-round exit, Brooks gave James and the rest of the Lakers bulletin-board material while underachieving.

"I poke bears," Brooks said of his antics with James during the series. "I don't respect anyone until they come and give me 40."

James quoted Jay-Z lyrics in response to eliminating Brooks and the Grizzlies after a series filled with Memphis' antics. It was the final touch to illustrate the

Unlike you little 🤬I'm a grown ass man
Big shoes to fill 🤬, grown ass pants
Prolly hustled with your pops, go ask your parents
Its apparent you're staring at a legend
Who, put a few little 🤬in the they place before
Trying to eat without saying they grace before! 🤫👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 29, 2023

Brooks continued to double-down on his antics when asked about them after the series. He expressed having no regrets for how he approached it and explained how doing so is part of his competitive nature.

"No, that's who I am. I don't regret it," Brooks said after the series. "I'm a competitor. I compete."

Brooks shared that he had some level of confidence in his chances of returning to the Grizzlies ahead of his impending free agency. However, he was going to allow his agent to handle that part of his process.

"I think they can possibly be good," Brooks said of his chances of returning during his exit interview. "I'm leaving that to my agent to handle that, and me, just focus on the summer and get better."

Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman shared in his exit interview that as an organization, they will be using a different approach next season. The constant trash talking proved to be a self-admitted distraction for Memphis.

“There were definitely some self-created distractions in the series and along the way. We’re gonna take a different approach as it pertains to that next season,” Kleiman said.

“You’ll see a different approach from this team but at the same time, confidence is important,” he continued. “There’s nothing wrong with some level of trash-talking, we want a group that goes out there and competes. … But there’s a line there, certainly and I don’t think that’s lost on anyone here.”

And now we have the “under no circumstance” report from The Athletic regarding Memphis’ lack of desire to re-sign him.

When evaluating Brooks as a potential option for a team like the Dallas Mavericks, there needs to be a strong weighing of pros and cons, given it's far from a perfect solution. The Mavs must add more impactful on-ball defensive options, but it cannot come at too much of a cost to their locker room and their offense.

Ideally, the Mavs do not need to add players that are not interested in being content while filling a role. Taking touches away from Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving — who the team hopes to re-sign — for an inefficient player like Brooks would reduce the ceiling of the half-court offense. Keep in mind, his output of 0.894 points per possession in the regular season ranked 80th among 83 players with 1,000 or more possessions.

Some of Brooks' recent comments have seemingly gone overlooked, too. He feels as though he was limited to being just a 3-and-D role player who has "way more" to his game than just shooting and playing defense. He wanted more plays called for him.

"I don't think I lost any thing on the offensive end," Brooks said. "I was just there to three-and-D, shoot and play defense. I got way more to my game than that."

"I wish I could have gotten some play calls so I can find my rhythm and find some stuff like that," Brooks explained, "but it wasn't in the cards for our team."

Contrary to Brooks' view of his skill-set, he isn't an efficient as a shot creator or when attacking the rim. His catch-and-shoot execution wasn't even at a suitable level in the playoffs. More often than not, he's attempting to make plays that just aren't adding value to his team's offense. Do the Mavs want to add that?

At 6-foot-6, Brooks has the size to start alongside Doncic and Irving. He could handle guarding a top perimeter matchup while being another option that could attack downhill within the flow of the game. However, having reliable catch-and-shoot options is too important for the Mavs with two superstars to overlook Brooks' inability and lack of desire to be primarily taking those attempts.

If Brooks was to come off the bench, the implications of Jaden Hardy's continued development would need to be taken into consideration. Brooks is going to take ill-advised shots and want to run high ball screens and isolate. Do they want that to happen while sending Hardy or Irving more to the corner?

From a financial standpoint, the Mavs ideally will bring back Irving, if the summer goes according to plan. Doing so will put them in the luxury tax, which would likely limit them to having just a taxpayer mid-level exception to spend. Without a sign-and-trade, the ability to offer Brooks an appealing contract would be limited.

If Brooks was willing to sign for a cheap price, the evaluation changes, but is still not a great fix for many of the Mavs' problems. Last offseason, JaVale McGee was the player signed using most of the taxpayer mid-level exception. Brooks would be quite a bit more impactful of a player to sign using that mechanism. However, it just appears challenging to envision Brooks accepting it considering he reportedly wants $25 million per season.

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