Call him a villain. Dillon Brooks doesn’t care. Say he’s arrogant, a bully, toxic to a team. He’s heard it, read it, doesn’t think much of it. “Everyone wants to hate on something,” says Brooks. Say he’s the reason for the Grizzlies’ first-round elimination from the playoffs last April, because early in the series against the Lakers he had the gall to publicly poke LeBron James. He thinks it’s stupid, but whatever. “We didn’t have our whole squad, and they did,” says Brooks. “People forgot about that. Just threw it on me.” The bad guy? Villain Brooks? He doesn’t want the label. But he’ll wear it. “Everyone can’t be the hero,” says Brooks. “I’d rather be what was chosen for me.”
Chosen. On this point, Brooks is emphatic. He didn’t dream of being scorched on a podcast by Draymond Green, scuffling with Donovan Mitchell or engaging in a brief blood feud with James. At Oregon, Brooks’s viral moment was being admonished by Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski in the handshake line after he took a late three in a blowout NCAA tournament win. “His fault,” says Brooks. He didn’t set out to be an enforcer. And a villain? “Not really,” says Brooks.“Because villains never win.”
Peel back the layers, though, and you’ll find a story more inspirational. A pudgy seventh grader turned high school star. A prep player who became a Division I prospect. A starter at Oregon who led his team to the Final Four. A second-round pick who made an NBA roster. A role player who has become one of the league’s top defenders. “He is the poster child for a guy who literally worked his way into the NBA,” says Mike Mennenga, a longtime Oregon assistant.
Last summer Brooks was part of the Canada team that finished third at the FIBA World Cup. In the bronze medal game against the U.S., Brooks ripped off 39 points, and he was named the tournament’s top defensive player. Team Canada coach Jordi Fernandez suggested those who don’t like the way Brooks plays “don’t like basketball.”
That story doesn’t get much attention, of course. Some of that’s on Brooks. Most of it, really. started the feud with Green, telling ESPN in the spring, “I don’t like Draymond at all,” adding that Green would be nothing if he weren’t a Warrior. sparked the scuffle with Mitchell in February when he swung his arm wildly and hit the Cleveland guard in the groin. (Mitchell retaliated by throwing the ball at Brooks and charging at him.) stood in front of his locker after Game 2 of Memphis’s opening-round series against the Lakers and dismissed some on-court jawing with James by saying he didn’t care because LeBron was old. “I poke bears,” Brooks said. Turns out, they poke back: The Lakers won three of the next four after that, with James clinching Game 4 with a driving layup into Brooks’s chest.
Indeed, Brooks’s basketball wounds are largely self-inflicted. Durable, 6'6" wing defenders are coveted in today’s NBA. There’s a reason the Grizzlies let one of the best walk away.
In late September, inside a chilly gym at McNeese State, where the Rockets opened training camp, Brooks squeezes into a straight-backed seat in the bleachers. Houston, desperate to improve defensively, signed Brooks, 27, to a four-year, $86 million contract in July. Of the end in Memphis, Brooks is bothered but unapologetic. “It wasn’t what I wanted,” he says. “The whole season was not what I wanted. I feel like we did better when I was a focal point in that organization. They chose a different route. But I’m happy that through all the bulls— I was able to get what I always deserved.”
In Memphis, Brooks was part of a contender. In Houston, he will try to help build one. The Rockets are the biggest surprise in the early season, jumping out to a 6-3 record, punctuated with a win over Denver on Sunday. Brooks is averaging 13.7 points while shooting career-best from the field (55.1%) and the three-point line (53.3%). He has a higher true shooting percentage (69.1) than Stephen Curry (68.6) and is a leader on Houston’s shockingly stingy top-five defense.
Anyone expecting a different player, though, will be disappointed. There was no epiphany. There will be no changed man. (In the Rockets’ preseason opener, Brooks was ejected after five minutes for—stop us if you have heard this before—whacking Indiana’s Daniel Theis below the belt.) “[The Grizzlies] relished the way I played because it made everybody play harder, play better, play with a certain swagger,” says Brooks. “That’s what I’m going to bring in this team. That’s how we’re going to play.”