The Grizzlies told veteran forward Dillon Brooks this week that he won’t be brought back for next season “under any circumstances,” league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Brooks is in the final year of his current contract, so he’ll become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Although Memphis holds his Bird rights, which give the club the ability to re-sign him without requiring cap room, team officials informed Brooks of their decision during exit meetings. The two sides agreed that it would be best for both to have a fresh start, Charania writes.
Brooks, 27, is considered a strong perimeter defender, but has become an increasingly erratic shooter, making a career-worst 39.6% of his field goal attempts in 2022/23. His three-point percentage dipped to 32.1% on 5.6 attempts per game during the last two seasons after he converted 35.3% of 4.5 threes per game in his first four seasons, all with the Grizzlies.
On top of his offensive struggles, Brooks’ outsized personality and aggressive playing style have gotten him into trouble both on and off the court. He received three one-game suspensions this season, once for an on-court altercation with Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell and twice for accumulating so many technical fouls.
Brooks’ performance during the Grizzlies’ first-round loss to the Lakers was considered to be a breaking point, according to Charania. Brooks referred to Lakers star LeBron James as “old” following Memphis’ Game 2 win, suggesting the NBA’s all-time leading scorer was well past his prime.
He was then ejected from Game 3 for hitting James in the groin, surrendered a pair of key baskets to LeBron in a Game 4 loss, and was eventually fined $25K for declining to speak to reporters after three games of the series (all losses). Offensively, Brooks shot just 31.2% from the field and 23.8% on three-pointers across six playoff games.
Memphis made contract extension offers to Brooks earlier in the 2022/23 league year, but they were turned down, which resulted in those discussions being shelved, Charania writes. The 27-year-old will now enter the open market after making $11.4MM this past season.
The Grizzlies, meanwhile, will have to find a way to replace Brooks’ presence on defense, which won’t necessarily be easy. They’ll presumably be seeking a player who can approximate Brooks’ defensive impact and make three-pointers at least at a league-average rate while creating fewer headlines and providing less bulletin-board material when speaking to reporters.
Clown act got old quick.
Made more money than you’ll ever make!
Money doesnt mean happiness or being correct or means you did something well in life – while that last part was true in the past, as of 2023 thats not true anymore, in 2023 everyone who fails the hardest gets bailed out the most (the rich/billionaires).
Only people who come from money say what you said.
Flexing another man’s bag is wild
I will never understand this as a retort when debating an athlete? (or any celeb with $)
So? Same goes for you as well and 99% of earth’s population.
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
Well in the early 2010s, China experienced an influx of younger NBA players going to China. In that span, the price of tea grew 3%. But in the past few years, NBA players in China have decreased, and so did the price of tea. Therefore the number of NBA players playing in China has created a higher demand for tea.
Why do you ask?
Has he though? Are we sure he’s made more money than me?
Well has he? Brooks salary is public. Yours is not. Why are you asking questions only you know the answer to?
Probably cuz some mook on Hoopsrumors inferred he knew how much erik makes.
Cool story bro, still doesnt invoke a question. Lets try using common sense next time shall we?
“Cool story bro”
Ok boomer.
Great addition to the conversation. Sadly, for you and your clown posse, all you did was affirm my initial comment.
You can be rich and still a clown
So has King Charles, doesn’t mean they earned it…
HA
Also: “Dillon Brooks is a good defender!”
Every Stat that Numbers Exist For: “Sure, Jan.”
Seriously, only place where he’s above average on defense is at the 3pt line. And it ain’t by much.
ROTFL
loser
“Well well well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions…”
– Dillon Brooks, probably (if he had any accountability whatsoever)
Reporters say
Draymond wanted to shake hands with Sabonis, Sabonis refused.
I say (just for fun)
Draymond wanted to shake hands with Jordan Poole, Poole refused.
Brooks wanted to shake hands with Draymond, Draymond refused.
De’aaron Fox = Jordan Poole
Same guy.
Same team??!?
Reports say
Sillivan a chatbot
If Sillivan is AI, our world is doomed. All its takes are garbage
If you’ve been on this board long enough, you’d realize all of his posts are riddles. Only the most resilient minds can process his takes.
Watson retired because of Silivan.
Um…what?
Dillon Brooks is a really solid defensive player and a okay three point shooter. He’s a 3&D player that won’t have a problem getting a deal. I definitely understand why the Memphis Grizzlies are done with him. They have plenty of options. They took Ziaire Williams with the 10th pick in the 2021 draft and then took Jake LaRavia with the 19th pick and David Roddy with the 23rd pick in the 2022 draft. They all can play the Small Forward. I think the Memphis Grizzlies will like to keep that physicality but a low maintenance individual. So I see their starting lineup next year.
Starters
SF David Roddy
PF Jaren Jackson Jr.
C Steven Adams
SG Desmond Bane
PG Ja Morant
Bench
PG Tyus Jones
SG Luke Kennard
PF Santi Aldama
C Xavier Tillman
SF Jake LaRavia
SF Ziaire Williams
SG John Konchar
Then they have the 25th pick in the 2023 draft.
I think what’s going to hurt them next season is PF Brandon Clarke might have to miss all of next season because of the achilles injury.
Injuries hurt Memphis this season but Ja Morant became a major distraction with his off the court issues and Dillon Brooks ways started hurting them. They need to get back focused and hungry and put in work this offseason on their games.
Roddy should be on the bench
And that lineup gets absolutely wrecked by Looney, Steph, Wiggins, Klay, Kuminga, Moody, and maybe Dray. Grizz should trade Ja and rebuild. Ja cannot be trusted plus is an injury risk.
Brooks has been a chucker for years. His declining percentages and clown show act don’t justify bringing him back no matter how good of a defender he is.
And he’s not even that good of a defender…
Yup, I don’t think enough people are factoring in the chucker part. If he was just a loudmouth who played good defense it would be one thing, but with flaws that get exposed during the playoffs he had become more of a liability than anything else.
He wants to be the new Draymond so bad, but Draymond has the highest on-court IQ in the league outside of Lebron…you need that.
Lmao. How you get fired on your day off?
Bye Felicia
Classic! Haha
He got 40 dropped on him
Brooks going to GSW
I would laugh so freakin’ hard.
So his market has fallen to vet min? GSW dont even have the MLE.
Not saying its not true I have a hard time seeing what team with cap room will want DB. His best hope was leveraging any sort of offer somewhere else to get a better deal in MEM, but thats now out.
I mean when a team says they won’t resign you “under any circumstances,” then year, vet minimum.
With how much he’s super hated by everyone who are normally known as relaxed guys, I dont even see him getting an NBA job.
There was a guy in MLB named Brett Lawrie. Put up 15.6 WAR in 6 years (not a bad player at all) but was blacklisted out of the game by age 26 because of how annoying he was to be around and how literally everyone who had been his teammate all had a “yep, he’s annoying” comment if pressed. Getting similar vibes here from Brooks.
Sounds similar to Matt Barnes before he was on the Lakers. Then, he was on the Lakers.
But sure let’s keep referencing baseball that no one cares about
This guy is a bozo, but it makes it sound like the worst thing he did was call LeBron “old” and suggested he’s well past his prime…Which IS TRUE!!! He’s 38-flippin’ years old, in a league of mostly 20-somethings! Numbers show he’s been past his prime for AT LEAST 3-5 seasons, and about a decade since his ‘true prime’ 27/28-year old seasons! People just can’t handle the truth nowadays! P.S. I’m guessing Brooks won’t sign with the Lakers in free agency! ;)
I mean. Worst thing he did *recently*, sure. Pretty sure trying to roll over on Donovan Mitchell’s ankles and then hitting him in his injured groin was worse.
The” truth” is that Brooks ran his mouth and couldn’t back it up.
No one cares he called out LeBron, people are making fun of him for calling out LeBron, then proceeding to get smoked by him.
Klay Thompson, the guy who spends all his time relaxing on his boat, hates Brooks more than anyone ever…says a lot.
“My momma don’t like you, and she likes everyone.”
— Justin Bieber
maybe more of a culture cleanup. plus his shooting… dude is doing the ballerina splits when he shoots his 3’s lol. he looked shook in the last games. he can bounce back elsewhere. ron artest has done worse and he ended up with a decent image after his lakers arc.
The difference is that Ron Artest was actually a good player.
Yup. Artest had anger issues. He wasn’t looking to be a clown, he was looking to beat the crap out of someone if they looked at him the wrong way or talked trash to his face. Most teams stayed away from him because they weren’t sure when he might race into the stands next time, but he wasn’t going to be accused for being a clown.
You sound like a LeBron James hater. LeBron James is 38 years old and still playing at a high level. He’s still a top 10 player in the NBA right now when it matters most. We can’t expect him to still be in his prime. Even with him not being in his prime he’s still holding his own. His basketball IQ is off the charts!!! He still can play defense in the concept of a team and can get in a passing lane, weak side shot block, and still the game’s best chase down shot blocker in the business. He’s a really good rebounder and one of the best passers in the association. Then he is still dangerous in the open court. Then still hurts you in a multitude of ways from three, the midrange, the face up game, and in the post. He runs pick and roll to perfection. Then what’s most important is he puts he teammates in great positions to win and be successful. Playing on a healthy LeBron James led team will give you a chance at a championship and that’s what you play for. His level of greatness is next level. Michael Jordan is the best player I’ve seen in my lifetime. LeBron James is the second best I’ve ever seen. LeBron James is the most talented player I’ve ever seen and the way he can do any and everything on the court is absolutely amazing!! I know he has his hands full against the Golden State Warriors this series but if he can will the Los Angeles Lakers past them he will go on to win his 5th NBA championship. A healthy Anthony Davis can be a a top 5 player. He plays both ends of the court at a high level.
lol cmon man
And the numbers also show Brooks is a good-but-overrated defender with bad %s and horrible shot selection. Not at all hard to move on from a guy like that who also happens to be all talk no bite and only serves to poison the lockeroom.
I’m certainly not saying it’s his fault for Ja’s stupidity, but when your superstar is actin a donkey and you have another jester, it doesn’t help. I’m sure they’d rather have veteran leadership that doesn’t contribute than deal with the headache that is Dillon Brooks.
Griz culture is bad!
It’s pretty damming when the team tells him during the exit interview don’t call us cause we’re not gonna call you back.
That should be a warning to all other teams in the league.
cant talk the talk when you cant walk the walk
\-_-/
Portland should take a flyer on this one. Anything to get the defensive intensity up. Maybe Dame can calm him down from running his mouth too much.
This is a worse look for Grizzlies FO than it is for Brooks. Why would you make this announcement public? To please frustrated fans? Or is the organization really petty enough to air grievances with a player like that? Either way, it should have been handled more professionally.
Brooks will find a home and have another solid year. No one is asking him to be more than a role player.
Coach Jenkins said flat out to tone down the trash talk. Brooks outright refused in his exit interview. Adding a little one-liner after bs like that is fine with me.
I missed this quote. There is a transcript of the interview? If so then yeah it makes more sense.
“No one is asking him to be more than a role player.”
The Grizzlies were. He played more minutes than anyone else on the team.
*were
Ok, so you’re saying he was asked to be more than a role player, failed miserably, and now won’t be asked to be more than that again because of that failure.
But he will have a solid year.
Just being clear and all.
Exactly. His limitations were on full display in the playoffs and so teams will likely look to bring him on as a role player. He can still contribute and should have a good year. Probably not making the star team but neither did Kevin Loony.
Because they know they have a bad culture and want free agents to go there…
Great look for the front office…
Brooks will be in China next year…
How does it improve your culture to drag players publicly? It looks petty and desperate. There are far more professional ways to go about it.
Brooks was a large part of the culture issue…
In order to attract players you have to fix the culture by removing the problems…
If the Grizzlies wanted to help Ja improve his attitudes they had no choice but to remove Brooks from the team…
Plus the best players like to be held accountable for their actions… You will only attract the culture breakers if there’s no accountability…
Grizzlies FO shouldn’t have tweeted that. Even if they told that to him, which they have the right to do, it’s not a good way to air that.
Brooks’ ‘old Lebron’ take backfired,
I respect the guy. He’s trying to win. He didn’t workef his butt out training to take a selfie with Bron. He used that as an strategy to win, obviously backfired, but he thought that was the Best way to do it. Grizzlies also gotta renember that they got the 2nd seed with Brooks’ in the team, playing a lot.
Wey don’t know the full inside story, it may be they do this out of spite that he won’t resigne intheir terms, which means another thing, esoecially innthe Social media era which allows for continual misunderstandings and information st hakf, but, anyway, it doesn’t portray them well. Hooefully he will tone down the Antics a bit, play more,
Besides he’s not messing with poor, innocent, people. He’s standing yo to NBA stars, and they responde to him, and he takes the Challenge and . What’s the Point of his ownt team hrowing him under the bus like that publicly? He’s actually a really Solid player on both ends.
Grizzlies’responsible for deciding to publicly Say that shouldn’t be brought back also.
How about Dorian Finney Smith for a first round pick, can replace Brook’s defense and 3 pointers. As a Nets fan, it feels like he misses every single shot he takes, I dont want him in the team next year
Hahahahahahahaha *slaps knee* hahahahahhahahaha
It’s extremely disrespectful to the coaches and organization to behave the way Brooks does, in-game, interviews, etc…
If he can’t control himself (they can’t control him, obviously), then they gotta let him go.
He has the type of personality and lack of restraint (or common sense), that he can blow your whole season in 5 minutes.
Memphis doesn’t need him.
The LEAGUE doesn’t need him.
He better self-reflect, before ends up in Wuhan.
Yup, if Klay Thompson openly hates you, you are definitely doing something wrong.
Dillon brooks’ is one thousand times funnier and more entertaining than dull, meager Klay Thompson.
Kind of low of Memphis really
Brooks has been there for years. His whole career. I’m sure he would do anything for the team. Don’t blame him for everything. Blame Morant. He wasn’t leading the team.
Smart decision by the Grizz…
They obviously need to fix their culture and Brooks was a big part of that problem…
Missed a chance at an awesome headline:
Grizzlies Won’t “Under Any Circumstances” Re-Sign Brooks
It’s organically click-baity, which is the best kind. It’s click bait because that quote makes it really interesting, so that oughta go in the headline. The people want drama, and it’s right HERE, but you missed it by drawing up a hasty lackluster headline instead.
What kind of a reader prefers a click-baity headline? If anything, I commend HR for not going that route since it wasn’t an actual quote, just Sham’s interpretation of the situation. And the betting money is said “interpretation” was exaggerated for effect.
We all hate clickbait, but the sites usually want people to read their content.
All I meant was that it was an opportunity to use an attention-grabbing headline that SOUNDS like clickbait (so it ropes readers in), but it actually ISN’T clickbait because it actually has substance. It would be a win-win for the site and the readers.
Basically I guess my point was that the headline could’ve had a lot more “oomph.”
Akshully the current headline is stronger. More concise and definitive. Still makes the reader ask “why”.
Your proposed headline is worded strangely and doesn’t flow very well.
About time a team stands firm …….
Same should be done to Kyrie ……
Unless it’s the Mavs. Not even sure they know how to put a team on the court. Time to clean house in the front office and mute Cuban.
Mark from Cuba should of been kicked out of the league like Sarver…
Well, Kyrie is about 1000 times better…
Kyrie is a great player at least, but you aren’t guaranteed he wont be missing games for unprofessional reasons, which is unacceptable and cheats everyone and everything associated with whatever team he is on from the salary cap down to on court performance down to fan misery. That is called a clubhouse cancer.
Kyrie needs to ride off into the sunset. He won a ring, just leave us NBA fans alone. Sick of hearing about his dumb opinions that anyone who completed one class on whatever topic he’s talking about knows a billion times more than him on. Dude is a moron and doesn’t deserve his platform.
Teams need to show that they hold their players accountable…
It really is a smart move by the Grizz… Good culture players would of avoided them like the plague if Brooks was given another contract…
Thoughts on Morant’s crap off the court? Accountability…
I would expect from you, who claims to defend team basketball, Thibs’ team-first approach, and that, to side with a guy who, right or wrong, left everything for his team, not with a miserable, franchise, who are such cowards that prefer to be in good terms with their rivals, than to back up a guy from their team.
Guaranteed he ends up in Philadelphia next season.
China
Same.
“My momma don’t like you, and she likes everyone.”
— Justin Bieber
Brooks doesn’t want to come back anyway