Dillon Brooks wasn’t lacking any confidence after the Grizzlies’ win in Game 2 against the Lakers on Wednesday, during which he hit a late three-pointer to stick the dagger in Los Angeles.
Despite a lackluster shooting performance in which he shot 5-of-14 from the field and 2-of-9 from deep, Brooks dropped a scalding hot take about Lakers star LeBron James after the duo was seen jawing at each other during Game 2.
Via Damichael Cole of Memphis News, Brooks told reporters that he wished he’d had the chance to guard James back during his time with the Cavaliers or Heat.
“It would’ve been a harder task,” said Brooks, taking a bold shot at James after Memphis’s 103–93 win.
It wasn’t the only mockery of James that Brooks participated in throughout the night. After hitting his first three of the game, the 27-year-old turned around and tried to get in James’s face. The league’s all-time leading scorer was having none of it, paying Brooks no mind while the Grizzlies winger gave him a stare-down.
One of the biggest trash-talkers in the league, Brooks didn’t hesitate to take a shot at James, and he had plenty else to say.
Classic Dillon Brooks on his confrontation with LeBron James: “I don’t care. He’s old. … I poke bears. I don’t respect someone until he gives me 40.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 20, 2023
And Brooks had plenty more to say. pic.twitter.com/uWLONrubPZ
“I don’t care, he’s old,” said Brooks of James, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. ”I poke bears. I don’t respect no one until they come and give me 40.”
While James led all scorers in the game with 28 points, Brooks doesn’t seem to think guarding the 19-time All-Star was much of a challenge. Only time will tell if Brooks’s strong words will come back to bite him in what appears to be an evenly-matched series.
