Dillon Brooks is one of the least-liked players in the NBA right now.
Even his own former fanbase booed him during Memphis Grizzlies home games a couple of times, and it seemed like he would have a tough time in free agency.
Brooks had done a lot of talking and got exposed and embarrassed on both ends of the floor in the playoffs, and the fact that his team told him that he wouldn’t be brought back ‘under any circumstances’ made it look like he was going to have to prove himself on a short-term, low-money kind of deal.
NBA Twitter made jokes about him, and people claimed he was going to have to go to China to find a new deal, which is why it was borderline shocking to see that he got $80 million over four years with the Houston Rockets.
Notably, Mike Scotto of Hoops Hype (via NBA Central) reports that Brooks and his camp kept receipts of everything that had been said about him, which is why the contract was such a massive win for them.
A 4 year / $80M contract was considered a ‘win’ for Dillon Brooks’ camp, per @MikeAScotto
“For Dillon Brooks’ camp, that was a win when all of NBA Twitter had him going to the Shanghai Sharks. Well, the joke was on NBA Twitter because he broke the bank and took all the checks… pic.twitter.com/Gh66DYzcjJ
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 26, 2023
Truth be told, it’s hard to think the Rockets would’ve offered him that much money if they didn’t have that much available cap space to spend.
But it’s not like Brooks can’t play; he can still be a serviceable 3-and-D player if he learns his place and embraces his role.
Whatever people say, he just got paid a lot of money.
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