Dillon Brooks walked into Crypto.com Arena Monday night like it was his personal stage - and he played the villain role like he’d been rehearsing it for months.
Brooks didn’t just show up - he showed out, dropping 33 points in the Suns’ 125-108 win over the Lakers. But if you’ve followed Brooks’ career, you know that when he’s in the spotlight, the stat line is only part of the story.
The rest? Pure theater.
We got the full Brooks experience: trash talk, staredowns, crowd banter, and just the right amount of edge. And when LeBron James is in the building, Brooks doesn’t just play basketball - he performs.
Suns interim head coach Jordan Ott made it clear: this one meant more to Brooks.
“He’s the ultimate competitor,” Ott said. “He’s talked a lot about coming back into this building.
He had a tough playoffs a couple of years ago. This means something different to him.
We feel that as a group… we follow his lead.”
That edge was obvious from the opening tip. Brooks came out firing and never let up, torching the Lakers for 23 in the first half alone - including 15 in a second-quarter stretch where he was practically untouchable. At one point, he was 10-of-11 from the field, jawing back at courtside fans who had been chirping all night.
“They wanted me to keep shooting, so I kept shooting,” Brooks said postgame - and shoot he did, finishing 15-of-26 from the floor. He’s now riding a career-best scoring stretch, averaging 22.3 points per game, and playing with a swagger that’s hard to ignore.
The tension between Brooks and LeBron didn’t need words to be felt. In fact, LeBron didn’t say Brooks’ name once after the game.
But the cameras caught his response late in the fourth quarter, after Brooks tried to back down Bronny James and got whistled for a travel. LeBron, sitting on the bench, slowly gave a deliberate thumbs-down - no words, just a clear message.
That moment said it all. No quotes, no confrontation - just the kind of silent drama that adds another layer to an already simmering rivalry.
Brooks may not be everyone’s favorite, but he’s not trying to be. He’s here to compete, to stir the pot, and to take over the moment - especially when the lights are brightest and the crowd is loudest. And on Monday night in L.A., he did exactly that.