One of the NBA’s best irritant

Picked 45th in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets, 6’6” Canadian born shooting guard/small forward Dillon Brooks was right away traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.  He signed a $3.8 million rookie scale contract with them and on his first game with the team, he became the first Canadian scoring the most points in his NBA debut with 19 points.

Up to the end of the 2022-2023 season, he spent all of his playing career with Memphis where he reportedly accumulated a net worth of $7 million.  It afforded Brooks to have houses in his native Canada and in Memphis plus two luxury cars such as the Audi R8 Spyder and the Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster.

He is an outstanding defender that does not back down even to the NBA’s star of stars but his offense is erratic.  This does mean that he is not a valuable asset.  Because he let his mouth do the talking instead of his game during the playoffs, Memphis at the end of the season won’t be bringing back “under any circumstances” their longest tenured player.

His physicality during games is borderline questionable but it earned him a spot on the 2022-2023 All-Defensive second team.   Like Patrick Beverly of the Philadelphia 76ers, you don’t have to be nice to earn those millions.

Houston, the team that drafted Brooks in 2017 gave him a 4-year $80 million descending deal starting at $21.6M on the first year and ending at $18.4M.  A huge upgrade from his previous 3-year $35M with Memphis.

Brooks will have a key role with the Rockets as along with Fred Van Vleet, they will provide veteran leadership and stability to Houston’s young core of Kevin Porter, Jr., Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, Jr. and Alperen Sengun.  Fans hope that with them, the Rockets can compete in the playoffs after missing the bus the past three seasons.

With Team Canada since 2014 during the U18 FIBA Americas championship, Brooks is averaging 10.4 points in five games in the FIBA World Cup, contributing to a balanced Canadian scoring production.   With seven NBA players, they are perhaps the biggest threat to Team USA and had improved a lot from their 21st place in the 2019 edition.

Like Pat Bev, Brooks will continue to be a villain in Houston, an effective irritant opposing teams would love to hate but would love to have on their team.