Dillon Brooks has been labeled a villain, agitator and disruptor in his nine seasons in the NBA. For those reasons and his basketball skill, Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia didn’t leave any room for trade speculation regarding the forward after a big win against the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Don’t bother calling … Suns aren’t interested (in a trade),” Ishbia said Monday on X in response to former NBA player Boogie Cousins proposing a Lakers’ Austin Reaves-Brooks swap. “Dillon’s not going anywhere.”
It’s a firmer stance but not a change in tone for Ishbia on Brooks, who just before Thanksgiving on “The Draymond Green Show” podcast said Brooks is “exactly what we’re about” with the team in its first year under a new head coach and general manager.
“He might agitate the other 29 teams, but for us, he’s exactly what we’re about,” Ishbia said on Nov. 24 with Golden State Warriors’ Green. “He plays as many games as he can play. He wants to compete every game and he’s going to do what he can to help us win.”
Brooks has been largely available, playing in 29 out of 35 games for Phoenix (21-14), and his 21.4 points per game is only behind Devin Booker’s 25.7. Plus, his fearless offensive mentality has helped the Suns more than it has hurt them, with 14 points in the fourth quarter and a clutch-time 3 against the Thunder on Sunday night.
The 2023 All-Defensive Second Team member is averaging the second-most minutes per game (30.9) in his career — 31.8 in 2024-25 with the Houston Rockets — and is both making more buckets and shooting more shots (7.9 and 17.1 per game, respectively) than at any other point in his professional career.
Brooks is owed an average salary of $21.5 million through 2026-27 and will be an unrestricted free agent prior to the 2027-28 season.
As alluded to by Ishbia, Brooks is prone to getting caught up in the crosshairs of any given game, but despite his 12 technical fouls and two ejections, the 6-foot-7 Oregon Duck clearly fits the identity the team owner set before the season: a squad that grinds and “doesn’t just cash in” when adversity strikes.
On the heels of a gigantic W over Oklahoma City, Brooks faces his former team in the Rockets (21-11) on Monday at 6 p.m.