Where will Dillon Brooks land in NBA free agency? Here are five options.
Dillon Brooks is one of the most polarizing free agents of the 2023 summer, and that’s why many eyes will be on where the former Memphis Grizzlies forward signs.
Most of Brooks’ 2022-23 season will be remembered for trash-talking LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving and pretty much any NBA star he was asked about. Throughout all of the chaos, Brooks made the all-defensive team after guarding and containing some of the league’s biggest stars.
The Grizzlies are unlikely to retain Brooks’ services. The playoffs ended with Brooks being left wide open on offense and shooting 31.2% in the series loss against the Lakers. Brooks mentioned how even though he accepted the change, he was being asked to play a role that minimized his offensive skillset.
Maybe there’s an NBA team out there that agrees and will let Brooks get more offensive plays called for him while he hounds opponents on defense.
Here are some teams that may show interest in the former Grizzlies star.
Houston Rockets
Houston is the team connected to Brooks through most reports. The Rockets are flush with the most available cap space in the NBA, and they have to spend most of it. Brooks makes sense as a defender who can set the tone for a bad defensive team and help Houston’s young core find an identity. The Rockets finished 28th in defensive rating.
Toronto Raptors
If Brooks’ market doesn’t play out like he wants, taking a discount to return home sounds plausible. Brooks loves Toronto and still has many connections to the city. With former lead Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic taking over as head coach for the Raptors, he may call on a former player to help lead the change in Toronto.
Miami Heat
Synching Brooks with the Miami Heat culture would be fun. His feisty and tenacious defense is a perfect fit, but the Heat have done a great job at getting players to buy in to roles that make better sense for the team than individuals. If Brooks is fine playing a lesser role, he could give Miami another big wing to take pressure off Jimmy Butler. He may not be able to score 15 points per game, but Miami has restored the value of many players in the past.
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Portland Trail Blazers
Brooks went to college at Oregon, which is less than two hours away from Portland. The Blazers are caught in between rebuilding or reloading around Damian Lillard. If they choose the latter, Brooks would help fix the perimeter defense issues that have haunted the Blazers in the Lillard era. Blazers coach Chauncey Billups did a good job of masking Portland's perimeter defensive issues early in the season with a matchup zone, but the league caught on. Brooks would give Portland a perimeter defender capable of playing high-level man-to-man defense.
Dallas Mavericks
When the Dallas Mavericks acquired Kyrie Irving, they put two lethal scorers together in the backcourt by pairing him with Luka Doncic, but the perimeter defense took a big hit. Teams scored with ease on the Mavericks in the second half of the season. Signing Brooks would go a long way in fixing those issues. Scoring isn't a problem in Dallas. And besides, Brooks might not mind getting his revenge on Memphis by going to a division rival.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Dillon Brooks NBA free agency options include Rockets, Raptors, Heat
