MESA, Ariz. - Dillon Brooks has a reputation that follows him everywhere, but on this afternoon it followed him straight into a youth basketball gym and got a warm reception.
At the Dillon Brooks Youth Basketball Camp at the Arizona Athletic Grounds, about 40 miles from downtown Phoenix, the 30-year-old Suns forward drew hundreds of campers ranging from 6 to 16 years old. Some arrived in high-tops, some in colors that didn’t match, and a few not even fully tied up. They came for basketball, sure, but also for the chance to be around one of the NBA’s most recognizable agitators.
Brooks has never shied away from the label. He’s the league’s chief villain in the eyes of many fans, and he has turned that into part of his identity. That reputation has been built over nine NBA seasons, through hard fouls that led to injuries, cheap shots that led to flagrant fouls, a league-high 17 technical fouls last season and a $35,000 fine for inappropriate language toward officials in a November game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Still, inside the gym, that baggage barely mattered.
“I got to see a lot of new things and be knowledgeable in some things that I wanted to be,” Brooks said. “I was in a different city every single day. The people and the fans were great.”
Brooks has had a busy offseason beyond the camp. In August, he signed a three-year, $73 million extension with the Suns. He also spent 10 days in China, working with UFC fighter Li Jingliang and learning kung fu in the Wudang Mountains, a trip that sounds as intimidating as it does unusual.
The camp itself stretched across eight courts and featured a mix of drills and games for the kids. Joseph Harb, a 15-year-old from San Diego, said he drove six hours “just for this, bro.” He said he liked Brooks’ toughness and the way he had “the guts to stand up to everyone.”
Rodney Johnson came with his 11-year-old son Braydon, driving an hour and 15 minutes from the other side of the Valley of the Sun. Johnson wore a black Brooks T-shirt from a previous event and said, “We love Dillon,” adding, “Everybody says he’s a villain, but sometimes that’s what you need.”
When asked if he felt that way before Brooks got to the Suns, Johnson laughed and said, “Absolutely not,”
That kind of reaction is exactly what makes Brooks such a loaded figure. Fans can hate the role, but they also know it’s real. Brooks leaned into that idea when he talked about what villainy means to him.
“As a human being, you have good, and you have a little bit of bad, a little bit of villainy,” said Brooks, coming off a season in which he averaged a career-best 20.2 points for the Suns. “It’s always in moderation, but I feel like people kind of resonate with that.
A villain doesn’t have to be always bad. There’s good in it, as well.
It’s the hard work. It’s the relentlessness to be the best at what you want to be, and I try to instill that in myself and try to showcase it in a different way.”
The day opened with a familiar Brooks routine. When he walked into the gym and heard the 350 campers chanting his name, he stopped and stared as part of a breathing and focus exercise he says he uses before games, a habit he took from former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Then he moved through the crowd, handing out high fives.
Brooks also had a little personal history with camps like this. Growing up in Canada, he attended a Jamaal Magloire camp and got a photo with the former NBA center, who played 12 seasons and made the Eastern Conference All-Star team in 2004. Brooks said that picture “stuck with me a while,” and helped make the NBA feel closer.
This camp was run through FlexWork Sports, which markets its events as a chance for young players to meet and interact with stars. The final station featured Brooks directly, with campers passing, cutting, receiving return passes and finishing layups or jump shots. Brooks played along, tossing behind-the-back passes, clapping for makes and encouraging the kids after misses.
There were small moments that showed why the crowd was so into him. A young girl with a blonde ponytail knocked down a short jumper, and Brooks told her, “Nice shot,” smiling as he did it.
She didn’t smile back. A few minutes later, when the groups rotated, Brooks reached out again and she slapped his hand.
The afternoon ended with one-on-one reps against Brooks. Damien Parmenter, a 16-year-old Suns fan from Oregon, tried to attack him at the top of the key.
Parmenter drove right, took his steps and went up for a dunk, but missed. As he hung on the rim, Brooks gave him a playful shove.
Once a villain, always a villain.
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