The national media have controversial Dillon Brooks take once again

It took Dillon Brooks only one season to endear himself to the Phoenix Suns, but despite propelling them to a surprise playoff appearance many remain unconvinced.

The Athletic ranks Brooks as a tier 4 player in the NBA

With the postseason down to three teams, The Athletic released their latest piece to get fans engaged, and it revolved around the tiers of players in the NBA today. Devin Booker landing on the second tier, a fact that you’re not going to get much pushback on The Valley about.

But Brooks appearing on the fourth list of names only proves that the league has learnt nothing about who he is and what he is capable of bringing to an organization. It has always been about more than the numbers for the Canadian international, even if his 20.2 points per game represented a career high in 2025-26.

He received serious All-Star consideration for the first time ever, while also finding his edge once again after exiting the playoffs. In their series versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooks was the player who willingly took (and made) some of the biggest shots for his team. That also explains why Booker is a tier 2 star, he can’t be getting outplayed by Brooks, but that is a fact that cuts both ways.

For Brooks to outplay a supposed “tier 2 player” for much of a series against the top seed in the Western Conference is all the proof we need he is in the wrong place. But there was also the raising of the floor with his addition to the team, although the league continues to fail to be able to properly credit Brooks for the intangibles and winning mentality he brings.

Jalen Green also appeared on tier 4, and while that is the correct call it again proves the point that Brooks is in the wrong spot. Can you honestly say a streaky scorer who was injured for large portions of the season had the same impact as Brooks? Even if we take their age profile and trade value into account, there are more teams out there today who would rather have Brooks in town than Green in both the short and long-term.

It might look like the Suns are profiting from Brooks being misunderstood once more, but if anything it only hurts their ability to get a haul of any kind back for his services down the road. Extending him is tricky too given the player surely also thinks more highly of himself, which partly explains the apparent reluctance of the Suns to do that right now.

Dillon Brooks may never get the credit he deserves league wide, but Phoenix knows what they’ve got in their combative forward.

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