One reason why the Grizzlies informed Dillon Brooks they won’t re-sign him this summer was a disconnect between the two sides over his role on offense, writes Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Brooks’ usage rate increased each year during his first five NBA seasons, all the way up to 28.8% in 2021-22, but dipped back down to 21.8% in ’22-23, his lowest mark in four years. The comments the veteran forward made in his end-of-season media session over the weekend indicated that he wasn’t thrilled by that role reduction.
“I don’t think I lost any thing on the offensive end,” Brooks said. “I was just there to three-and-D, shoot and play defense. I got way more to my game than that.”
Of course, Brooks’ personality – both on and off the court – was also a major factor the Grizzlies considered when they made their decision not to re-sign him. As Cole writes, Ja Morant, head coach Taylor Jenkins and general manager Zach Kleiman all expressed a desire to tone down on the trash talking going forward, while Brooks said he had no regrets about his own comments, telling reporters, “That’s who I am.”
Here’s more on Brooks:
- Despite an unceremonious end to his time in Memphis, there’s expected to be a market for Brooks in free agency this summer, according to reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. One general manager who spoke to Deveney suggested that Brooks’ price before his stock crashed might have been something like $54M over three years — now, he could be a mid-level target for over-the-cap clubs. “There will be tax teams hoping to get him in on a one-plus-one deal—come to us, we have a good culture, help us win, clean up your reputation, and then go back on the market next year,” the GM said. “He’ll be in demand.”
- During an appearance on ESPN’s "Around the Horn," Ramona Shelburne suggested that Brooks’ asking price on his next contract is – or at least was – $25M per year (Twitter video link). Given the context, it’s unclear whether that’s solid info or merely speculation on Shelburne’s part — either way, it’s almost certainly an unrealistic goal.
- The breakup with Brooks is just the start of what will be a difficult offseason for Kleiman, writes Mark Giannotto of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Within that story, Giannotto asserts that the Grizzlies weren’t the source of Tuesday’s leak to Charania, since it wouldn’t have made sense for them to say they wouldn’t re-sign him “under any circumstances.”
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca takes a look at what went wrong for Brooks in Memphis and considers what the marketplace for him will look like this summer.
More must-reads: