Suns Owner Says Dillon Brooks Will Be With Phoenix 'For Good'

Mat Ishbia loves what Dillon Brooks has brought to the Suns.

Dec 8, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks (3) works around Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) in the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- Ever since the Phoenix Suns acquired Dillon Brooks this summer, he has spearheaded a huge culture shift that has led to Phoenix completely changing its identity and surpassing all preseason expectations to this point with a 14-11 record so far.

Brooks and new coach Jordan Ott have been the leaders of the Suns employing a mentality Brooks recently described as "gritty, confident and we ain't scared of nobody."

After being one of the worst defensive teams in the league last season, the Suns now lead all teams in steals per game (10.8) and are second in the NBA in points off turnovers (21.8) and opponent turnovers per game (17.2).

On the offensive side, Phoenix is showing no fear and unlimited confidence no matter who is on the floor especially with all of the injuries that have piled up this season.

This has led to Brooks averaging a career-high 21.7 points and 1.4 steals in his first season in Phoenix.

Mat Ishbia Praises Dillon Brooks

Suns owner Mat Ishbia is very fond of what Brooks has contributed to the team and seemingly made a commitment to him long term on The Ryen Russillo Show earlier this week.

"He brings everything, man," Ishbia said of Brooks. "I know some people don't like him, which is great because he's gonna be with us for good, so don't worry about it. He's gonna be with us, and you're not going to like him against (you).

"He brings toughness, he brings grit, he brings defense. You can see he can play offense too, he's pretty good, scoring 22 points a game. He's just a winner, he's a leader, and he's changed the culture."

Even before the Suns trade Kevin Durant to the Rockets for the package that included Brooks, Ishbia said at his end-of-season press conference in April following the Suns finishing the 2024-25 season with a 36-46 record and missing the playoffs that "the biggest change" he wanted to make was "to do a better job of setting the identity of the Phoenix Suns."

Brooks, who has helped lead culture shifts with the Memphis Grizzlies and Rockets in the past, seems like the perfect pairing for Ishbia, who originally described this identity as putting a team on the court that everyone would be "proud of" and would have "a little bit of grit, some determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy."

Ishbia explained why Brooks has fit so well to Russillo.

"When we talked about that identity this summer, this was before we made the Kevin Durant trade to get Dillon, Jalen (Green), Khaman (Maluach) and Rasheer (Fleming) all from that trad, we defined 'does anyone live like that?,'" Ishbia said.

"And Dillon Brooks is everything we wanted, and he's even better than I thought. We love having Dillon. He's been everything we wanted, and now we got to continue to spread that ... (Brooks) raises the floor of every other player on the floor too."

Yeah Dillon Brooks is never leaving Phoenix, ishbia said he’s here for good pic.twitter.com/1TqeY7LF9B

— mo🇸🇴 (@easymoneyyMo) December 10, 2025

The Suns and Brooks appear to be completely bought into this identity and will look to continue playing with it the rest of the season and beyond.