Dillon Brooks didn’t need much time to answer the question.
If he had to step into a boxing ring with one NBA player, the Suns forward said he’d pick Jimmy Butler.
“Jimmy Butler,” Brooks said. “I feel like some things went too far. I always feel the animosity.”
Brooks made the comment while appearing on N3on’s Kick stream, and he made it clear the friction goes beyond ordinary on-court chirping. Still, he stopped short of calling it some deep personal feud.
“It's all about basketball for sure, but I just heard some things went too far, on social, stuff like that,” Brooks said. “He was posted on social, I'll see him, you know, like in the interviews.”
When asked whether the two had already run into each other face to face, Brooks said they had not.
“Jimmy Butler… I feel like some things went to far. I always feel the animosity”
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 1, 2026
Dillon Brooks says that if he could box any NBA player he would box Jimmy Butler 👀
(via @N3onOnYT /Kick) pic.twitter.com/v3c46VhXtY
The tension between them goes back to last year’s first-round playoff series between the Rockets and Warriors, when Butler and Brooks kept bumping heads. In Game 4, cameras caught Butler calling Brooks “a bum and a b****” during a back-and-forth near midcourt. Butler later reinforced that stance in his postgame press conference.
“No, we're not having fun. I don't like Dillon Brooks,” Butler said at the time.
“We're never having fun. I'm a fierce competitor, he's a fierce competitor, but there's nothing fun about that.”
Brooks mostly played it off in the moment, even laughing through some of Butler’s remarks during the game.
The matchup has been on pause since then, largely because Butler has been sidelined for much of the past year. Brooks pointed that out when asked if he was looking ahead to another clash.
“He was out last season. I think he's out for a little bit right now, too. He's probably close to getting back,” Brooks said, before adding, “The Warriors didn't do anything.”
Now Brooks is in Phoenix after a trade, while Butler is working his way back with Golden State. If their paths cross again, the edge between them should still be there.
In Other News...
Dillon Brooks Just Put Westbrooks Free Agency Drama In Focus
Russell Westbrooks free agency has lingered into the summer with the kind of uncertainty that tends to follow a veteran who still brings name value but no simple fit. He is not expected to return to the Kings, and while there is still reported interest out there, the list of teams willing to make the basketball puzzle work has not exactly grown long. For the Suns, it is the sort of market reality that matters because every possible move around the edges of the roster has to be measured against fit, role and how much control a player needs to be effective.
Dillon Brooks added a blunt layer to that conversation during a recent stream, pointing to Westbrooks ball-dominant style as a challenge for coaches and suggesting it may be part of why the market has been slower to materialize. It was not hard to see why the comment landed: Westbrook remains a player with a track record and a reputation that can still draw attention, and a reunion with the Rockets has been floated as one of the more intriguing possibilities, especially with Kevin Durant in the picture. Even so, the bigger question hanging over all of it is whether a team believes the upside is worth the trade-offs. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Summer Moves Put Phoenixs Biggest Roster Questions Under The Spotlight
The Suns spent much of the offseason trying to stabilize a roster that kept changing around the edges, and their latest wave of moves gives the front office a clearer picture of what this group is supposed to look like entering the new season. Collin Gillespie, Mark Williams and Jordan Goodwin were brought back, giving Phoenix continuity in the rotation and some familiar pieces around the core, while Luke Kennard arrives with a very specific job after the departures of Grayson Allen and Royce ONeale.
Kennards fit is the easy part to understand, since the Suns have been looking for more perimeter help and reliable shooting after those trades opened up a hole on the wing. The harder questions now sit in the balance between keeping useful role players, managing the books and deciding how much flexibility Phoenix is willing to sacrifice to preserve depth, especially with salary analysis already poking at the long-term cost of these deals. [Read more 🡒]
Dillon Brooks Just Added Fuel To One Big Lakers Debate
Dillon Brooks has a knack for turning offseason chatter into something a little sharper, and his latest take on the Lakers fits right into that lane. With Los Angeles reshaping its roster after LeBron James departure, the Phoenix Suns forward pointed to the obvious pressure point: a team built around Luka Doncic may have to lean on him to do a lot of the scoring if it wants to stay in the Western Conference race. The Lakers have added pieces and brought back Austin Reaves, but the conversation around them keeps circling back to whether the roster has enough balance to match up with the leagues best.
The bigger issue, as analysts and insiders have framed it, is not just offense but whether Los Angeles can hold up defensively against the top teams in the West. Brooks comment only adds more fuel to a debate that has followed the Lakers all summer, because even if the talent level is improved on paper, there is still real skepticism about how the pieces fit in meaningful games. For a Suns team that expects to be part of that same conference fight, it is exactly the kind of early-season noise worth watching. [Read more 🡒]