Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks better be ready to eat his words if his team faces the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA playoffs.
Three things can be certain in life: death, taxes, and Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks getting into fights. After feuding with Draymond Green and smacking Donovan Mitchell in a tender place, Brooks has chosen his third unsuspecting victim: the legend himself, LeBron James.
Now, James’ G.O.A.T. status has typically made him an off-limits topic of trash talk, and most players in the league have nothing but respect for the Lakers star. But Dillon Brooks isn’t most players. He’s an absolute menace, and he just made a comment that he might regret for the rest of his NBA career.
On Tuesday, Brooks told reporters that he wouldn’t mind if the Grizzlies faced LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. In fact, he damn near welcomes it and believes it would be a good postseason matchup.
Yeah, we’re sure that take will age so well.
Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks is begging to get swept by LeBron James in NBA Playoffs
The second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies could face the Lakers in the first round if Los Angeles beats the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night.
The Lakers came up tantalizingly short of a playoff spot at the end of regular season, but they should enter the play-in tournament with their heads held high. Los Angeles won 18 of its last 26 games and managed to turn its 2022-23 season around after a few key trades (good riddance, Russell Westbrook) and roster changes.
Austin Reaves is Alex Caruso 2.0 (yes, partly because they’re both white). Anthony Davis is healthy enough and has averaged 25.9 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. LeBron is LeBron.
The Lakers will look to topple a Rudy Gobert-less Timberwolves side that nonetheless packs an offensive punch, and if they make it out unscathed, they probably wouldn’t “mind” facing the Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, either. Memphis center Steven Adam’s absence coupled with the Grizzlies’ lack of postseason experience could easily swing the pendulum in favor of the Lakers in a potential seven-game series.
Everyone knows Playoff Lebron is a different beast, and Brooks, the foolhardy fire-starter he is, just poked him.
Is there any NBA player more universally loathed than Brooks in 2023? Brooks may thrive off of the hate, but so does LeBron. And between the two, one is the all-time leading scorer in the NBA. The other is just a below-the-belt-hitting chump.