
Dillon Brooks surprised a lot of people at the beginning of this year’s NBA offseason when he agreed to meet with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Despite being one of the bigger name players available this summer, Brooks’ recent history with L.A. led many to believe that there would be lingering bad blood there.
His seeming openness to signing with them, however, signaled that wasn’t in fact the case. Ultimately, Brooks wound up landing with the Houston Rockets.
This week the real reason he opted to join the Rockets over the Lakers emerged.
According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic, it was primarily a business issue.
“Brooks also met with the Lakers, but there was no smooth pathway to acquiring him given their cap situation, unless the Lakers were prepared to go down the complex sign-and-trade path that Houston did,” Iko wrote.
That certainly makes a lot of sense. The sign-and-trade that landed Brooks in Houston involved four other teams: the Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, LA Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Corralling all those organizations and assets is a lot of work – and it’s understandable that the Lakers couldn’t justify it for a guy who shot 32 percent from three last year.
Hailey Van Lith knows how to make an impression. https://t.co/ggfeor7Zxp
— Game 7 (@game7__) July 18, 2023
Instead, they went and got Gabe Vincent for a much more reasonable price, and then re-signed Austin Rivers, Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell.
Brooks is a really solid defensive player, but whether he is worth $86 million over four years is very debatable.
The Lakers and Rockets both had busy summers. Which team’s decision on how to handle Brooks will ultimately prove to be the right one in hindsight? An answer one way or the other will emerge next season.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.