For Phoenix Suns fans who’ve watched one of the most unexpected turnarounds in the NBA this season, you’d never envision a universe in which trade acquisition Dillon Brooks was lacking confidence.
But in a wide-ranging piece Brooks wrote for The Players’ Tribune, “The Villain” opened up about a time in his career when he was feeling down on himself — and told of which NBA legend sparked his confidence.
Brooks provided an anecdote about being ejected five minutes into his first preseason game after getting traded to Houston. Brooks said he "crossed the line" after getting tangled up with Daniel Theis and hitting him in an area below the belt.
Brooks, who’s the active leader in technical fouls drawn this season, is no stranger to losing his cool on the court. He plays with intensity and passion matched by few (if any) other players in the league, and while that’s certainly an asset, it can also prove an Achilles heel.
Brooks took accountability for losing his head, but what happened next would provide the fiery forward with a jolt of confidence he needed at a key juncture of his career.
“I’m in the locker room after the game, just feeling like s***, beating myself up, and one of our assistant coaches comes over to me with a phone,” Brooks wrote. “He says, ‘Hey, Joe wants to talk to you.’ I’m like, ‘Joe who?’”
The answer: “Joe Dumars.”
‘You got game.’ Dillon Brooks says Joe Dumars helped spark confidence in his play
For Brooks, who says he grew up a fan of Dumars’ own basketball acuity, the moment was surreal. He wrote that his aunt gave him VHS tapes including highlights of old-school NBA players, and that Dumars was among the guys he gravitated toward as a defensive-minded agitator.
Brooks explained that under normal circumstances he'd be excited to get to talk to an NBA great that he looked up to as a kid, but instead he was “thinking I’m about to be chewed out by the Hall of Famer.”
Brooks said he “answered the phone with my tail between my legs,” but that instead of an expected reprimand from one of his idols, Dumars — in Brooks’ words — “flipped the script.”
“He basically said, ‘Man, I don’t get it. Why do you think you have to fight all the time? You don’t have to always be the agitator. You can really play basketball. You got game. I see it,’” Brooks wrote of the interaction.
It proved an important gesture that Brooks says provided another spark of confidence that he needed from that type of Hall of Fame source.
“I think Joe was the first guy of that stature who ever told me that I was good at basketball and not just a villain,” he wrote.
Brooks went on to describe the interaction with Dumars as a wake-up call that forced the talented forward to look in the mirror and challenge himself to grow from his mistakes. Getting that type of endorsement from a player and legend he admired help put things in perspective.
Now with Phoenix after the Suns insisted on acquiring Brooks in the Kevin Durant blockbuster with the Houston Rockets, the Canadian is putting together arguably his best season as a pro. Much like Dumars, the Suns believed in Brooks and reportedly weren't going to pull the trigger on the blockbuster KD trade unless Brooks was included in the package coming back. He’s now averaging a career high 20.4 points per game and is largely credited with being the culture changer in The Valley.
The newfound level of confidence Brooks has displayed all season with the Suns was on full display Jan. 29 against Dumars’ former team in the Detroit Pistons — another upstart team that’s defied expectations this year.
Playing without teammates Devin Booker and Jalen Green, who were both sidelined with injury, Brooks scored a career-high 40 points on 13-of-22 shooting (4-of-7 from 3, 10-of-12 from the free throw line). He added eight rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block to the box score.
Thanks to his scoring outburst, the Suns defeated Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and the Pistons 114-96, even with Book and Green sidelined.
“I think I’m showing the world what I can be — and what Joe saw in me,” Brooks wrote. “I’m not that guy from 2018. I’m not that guy from 2023. I’m a different dude, with a whole different bag, and a whole lot of confidence.”
Opting to trade a future Hall of Famer in Durant couldn't have been an easy decision, but Phoenix landing the most confident version of who Brooks has been in the NBA is paying huge dividends, and guiding the Suns back into the postseason picture.