The Phoenix Suns just made a move that only sharpens the pain for the Golden State Warriors.
Phoenix locked up Dillon Brooks on a three-year, $73 million extension, and it’s the kind of deal that makes plenty of sense for a player in the middle of a career year. Brooks may still have an All-Star case in front of him, but even without that label, he’s already the sort of forward every contender wants: wired for every possession, hard to ignore, and capable of changing the temperature of a team.
That last part matters. Brooks has a way of making regular-season nights feel like they count, and he was also the best player on the floor for Phoenix in its surprise playoff appearance against the Oklahoma City Thunder. For a Suns team looking for more than just star power, that matters just as much as the box score.
And it’s exactly why Golden State can’t help but look over and notice what it doesn’t have.
The Warriors do have Draymond Green, but the comparison only goes so far. Green is 36 now, and the source of the issue is right there: he’s older and, by virtue of everything he’s already done, not quite the same nightly spark plug Brooks is. Golden State has spent too much of Stephen Curry’s prime failing to build the right kind of support around him, and Brooks is the kind of forward who would have fit neatly next to Curry - and even next to Green - on another postseason push.
That’s part of what makes the timing sting. A year ago, Phoenix was chasing Jimmy Butler at the deadline, hoping he could fill the role Brooks now occupies.
Butler wound up with the Warriors instead, played as expected, and then tore his ACL. The result is a twist of the NBA’s usual chaos: Golden State ended up with an older, pricier version of the type of player Phoenix now has in Brooks, while the Suns got a 30-year-old who has already altered their culture and could still become a useful trade piece if they ever need to find more help for Booker.
That’s why bringing Brooks back early was such a strong piece of business for Phoenix. It wasn’t just about keeping a productive forward in place. It was about locking in the exact kind of player a team like Golden State wishes it had right now.
And for the Suns, that’s only part of the point. Brooks means far more than a short-term fix.
In Other News...
Suns Just Showed How Much Dillon Brooks Matters In Phoenix
The Suns locked in one of their most important tone-setters this week, agreeing to a three-year, $73 million extension with Dillon Brooks that keeps the forward in Phoenix through the 2029-30 season. The team confirmed the deal in a press release, and general manager Brian Gregory singled out Brooks competitiveness and the impact he has made since arriving from Houston, a sign of how quickly he has become more than just another rotation piece.
For a roster trying to build toward sustained postseason relevance, Brooks gives Phoenix the kind of edge and edge-of-the-seat presence teams tend to notice most once the games tighten up. His fit has already been clear enough for the Suns to make a fully guaranteed commitment, and the bigger question now is how much that kind of reliability will matter when the playoff stakes get higher. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Fans Are Split On What This Offseason Really Fixed
The Suns spent the offseason trying to sell continuity, keeping key free agents in place and making a point of staying familiar rather than chasing a full roster reset. They also made a draft-day move to land Koa Peat, a bet on adding another young piece while trying to address their interior play, but the broader reaction around the league has been mixed enough that some analysts still handed the summer a low grade.
Much of the pushback has centered on the trade for Miles Bridges, a deal that cost Phoenix a future first-round pick and immediately invited debate about his legal history, contract situation and fit on a team still trying to clarify its needs. For Suns fans, the question is less about whether the front office was active and more about whether the moves actually solved anything meaningful, or simply rearranged the same problems into a new shape. [Read more 🡒]