Austin Reaves took an opportunity this past week to kick Dillon Brooks while he was about as down bad as one could possibly be.
Shorty after Reaves’ Los Angeles Lakers upset the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the latter squad came out publicly renounced Brooks.
The real reason for why Memphis so adamantly separated itself from Brooks isn’t fully known, but the way they did it is still widely acknowledged as being super disrespectful.
Part of the reason why Brooks drew so much ire and condemnation from NBA fans, to the point where they follow him down the street to mock him, is because of his harsh criticism of LeBron James.
Essentially, Brooks called James old and said he didn’t fear him. The fact that James subsequently came back and made him eat his words was just icing on the cake.
Reaves didn’t take kindly to Brooks’ comments on James. In a conversation with Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Lakers star spoke bluntly about his feelings towards Brooks.
“For him to say that to someone whose main goal is to win, and who is arguably the greatest player ever, I thought it was very, like, laughable,” Reaves said. “I took it as, ‘You can’t be serious. You look like a fool.’
“But hey, people talk. …It wasn’t really spoken on amongst the group, but it was really just kind of a known thing. We’re gonna do what we’ve got to do to handle business.”
Ouch.
Reaves had a tremendous first-round series against the Grizzlies (even his girlfriend became a viral star), so he is definitely in a position to clown Brooks as well.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t really been able to replicate that performance so far in the Lakers’ second-round matchup against the Golden State Warriors. Time will tell if that changes.
As for Brooks, he may be done with the Grizzlies – but he isn’t out of the NBA just yet. In fact, one title contender has emerged as the frontrunner to pick him up this summer.
Whether he will prove to be better or worse next season than he was towards the end of the Grizzlies’ 2022-23 campaign remains to be seen.
The photos speak for themselves. https://t.co/jAhdZC9nQw
— Game 7 (@game7__) May 6, 2023
Either way, Reaves is 24 years old and Brooks is 27.
They will square off against each other for many more years to come.
What teams will Reaves and Brooks be on when they play each other next? An answer to that question will emerge this summer.
Related: Dillon Brooks Frontrunner Emerges After Grizzlies Exit
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
