Dillon Brooks
Small Forward, 6’6”, 225 pounds, 29 years old, 8 years of NBA experience
There’s a new enforcer in Phoenix. And it’s been a while since the Suns have had one. Jae Crowder once filled that role, and his absence was felt. We’ve experienced three seasons of a team that too often looked passive, listless, and “unbothered”. But every contender needs that guy. The one who stirs the pot, sparks the fire, and makes the opposition uncomfortable. The one who plays so hard, so fearless, that it forces everyone
around him to elevate. A fuck-shit-up guy.
Enter Dillon Brooks.
Brooks arrives with a reputation carved in grit and irritation. In Memphis, he was the pest, the antagonist, the villain you cursed when he lined up against your team. Just ask LeBron James. Brooks needled him through a playoff series with a mix of trash talk and relentless energy.
He’s an irritant, a disruptor, an annoyance. Which is exactly why Suns fans should be thrilled. Because once a player like that is on your side, you can’t help but back him, warts and all.
Of course, he comes to Phoenix as part of the Kevin Durant trade. No one can replace a Hall of Famer, and no one’s pretending otherwise. But Brooks, along with the other pieces acquired, represents something the Suns have sorely needed: a reset in identity. If the new identity of this team is one that frustrates opponents, agitates the elite, and dares to carry itself with an edge, then sign me up.
Because the last couple of seasons, the Suns didn’t just lack toughness. They lacked seriousness. They weren’t taken seriously by others, and worse, they didn’t always seem to take themselves seriously either. With Dillon Brooks in the mix, that changes.
It looks like Phoenix is ready to get serious again.
2024-25 Recap
Last season may not have been Dillon Brooks’ flashiest in terms of raw numbers, yet it was the season where his game found its sharpest edge. Year eight in the league, second stop in his career, and the most efficient version of himself we’ve seen. The numbers say steady contributor, but the presence said tone setter.
Brooks has lived in the orbit of winning teams before. Those Memphis Grizzlies squads in 2021–22 and 2022–23 that finished as the two seed, and the Houston Rockets climbed into the same echelon last season. He has never been the athletic marvel who dominates headlines, but he embodies the glue every roster requires. 14 points per night on 43%shooting, 40% from deep, 82% at the stripe, nearly four rebounds, nearly two assists. The shooting efficiency peaked at a career-high 53.3% effective field goal rate.
Most telling of all, he appeared in 75 games, proving that his most valuable skill is showing up. For a Suns team that has been haunted by inconsistency in availability, his dependability is gold.
From The Dream Shake’s Xian E:
Over the past two seasons Dillon Brooks has been worth what the Rockets paid him, and then some.
Some might have thought that Dillon’s defense slipped a bit this season, and perhaps it did, but it’s hard to see it from the company he kept with his individual defensive rating. Dillon ended up with a very good Defensive Player Rating. About the best in the NBA over the regular season, with enough games played to qualify for an NBA award (65), and enough minutes to qualify as a starter (30+), was around 104.
It’s probably impossible to calculate, but difficult to overstate Dillon’s effect on the effort level and toughness of the young Rockets, which saw a marked turnaround last season with the addition of Ime Udoka, Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks. Dillon might be a hothead, and an irritant, but the horrible defending, uninspired, soft, young Rockets from before Dillon’s arrival needed his fiery presence.
In Houston, surrounded by Fred VanVleet, Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson, Brooks carved out significance by leaning into the unglamorous. Six three-point attempts per night at a career-best clip, relentless defensive energy, and the willingness to do the work others often skip. He was the irritant, the tone raiser, the connective piece.
Contract Details
Brooks enters the 2025-26 season on year three of a four-year, $90 million deal he signed with the Girzzlies in the summer of 2023. He is owed $21.2 million this year and his contract, which was front-loaded, decreases next season to $20 million ahead of the 2026-27 season.
Strengths & Weaknesses
His profile is easy to define yet difficult to replicate. He doesn’t demand shots, he takes pride in effort, and he thrives in defensive battles. These traits are increasingly rare in the league, and the Suns will welcome them with open arms. Watching him reminds you that ignoring the little things causes the big things to crumble.
Brooks will never be mistaken for a star, yet he is no liability either. He is not a great rebounder or elite playmaker, and help defense isn’t his strong suit.
What he offers is balance. He’s a capable shooter, a willing screener, a mobile defender, and one of the league’s premier isolation stoppers on the perimeter. He is not the man you hand the ball to in the final five minutes, but he is the one you assign to defend the man who has it. That balance matters. It keeps you in games, it steadies rotations, it multiplies value in subtle ways.
Dillon Brooks arrives in Phoenix as a player who thrives in the margins, and the margins are where seasons are won.
One Key Factor
Fit. This isn’t unique to Dillon Brooks, it’s a thread that runs through the fabric of the entire roster. The question is how they fit together, how the moving parts find rhythm once the ball tips. A learning curve awaits, particularly in the backcourt, and that is where Brooks can tilt the balance. He brings steadiness, presence, and a personality wired to anchor chaos.
That balance is his value, and that is where success takes root, as Brandon Duenas framed in the ‘What does success look like?’ series.
If Dillon Brooks can strike a balance on both ends, he could end up being more than just a role player. He could be the heartbeat of a younger Suns roster that desperately needs an identity.
The Suns have been searching for identity, for a heartbeat to define them, and Brooks has the makeup to embody exactly that.
Prediction Time
Ah yes, predictions. Trying to forecast Dillon Brooks feels slippery, because so much of his game lives outside the box score.
His value isn’t tethered to averages or percentages, it’s rooted in energy, effort, and attitude. Those are the things you feel more than you measure, and they are the things that tilt games. Still, if we’re going to attach numbers to his impact, I’ll play along.
Stat Prediction: 72 games played, 14.3 PPG, 3.6 APG, 3.1 RPG, 1.0 SPG on 42/38/80 shooting splits
Final Thoughts
When I scan this roster, Dillon Brooks might be the player I’m most eager to see in a Suns uniform. I’ll admit, I wasn’t exactly in his fan club before he arrived in the Valley. But that changes now. He’s ours, and he embodies the grit and identity we’ve been craving in Suns basketball. Sign me up for every bit of it.
