Mercurial wing Dillon Brooks, who is an impending free agent this offseason, will not return to the Grizzlies “under any circumstances” the team informed his representatives on Tuesday, according to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The decision from the Grizzlies comes after Brooks’s shot at LeBron James early in the team’s first round series against the Lakers, in which Brooks called James “old” and said that he wouldn’t respect James unless he scored 40 points on him.
The Lakers went on to win three of the next four games after that comment by Brooks, who played poorly and then refused to honor his media obligations after each of the remaining games in the series, leading to a fine from the NBA.
Memphis star point guard Ja Morant declared that the team had too many self-imposed distractions, and pointed the finger at himself for his own off-court transgressions. But there’s no doubt that the Grizzlies star had Brooks’s comments about James at the forefront of his mind as well.
Now, the Grizzlies will reportedly move on from Brooks, and NBA fans couldn’t help but roast the Memphis wing on the way out of town. Here are some of the best reactions from social media following the report about Memphis’s decision to move on from Brooks.
Dillon Brooks: “Tough loss to the season, but we’ll get them next year.”
— ANTIFAldo (@ANTIFAldo) May 2, 2023
The Grizzlies: https://t.co/JP29jaPuZ0 pic.twitter.com/KNgqga9tn5
Will be interested to hear Dillon Brooks’ press conference about this topic. https://t.co/p06KPLvlUk
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 2, 2023
it's the "under any circumstances" which gets me. in the event of a global catastrophe which incapacitates all basketball players except Dillon Brooks they're still saying no https://t.co/UV9MrOoJwR
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) May 2, 2023
draymond seeing the dillon brooks news: pic.twitter.com/pPDjDBm81r
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) May 2, 2023
Dillon Brooks trying to get into the Grizzlies facility pic.twitter.com/hEVdy2KZDj
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) May 2, 2023
Grizzlies to Dillon Brooks basically: pic.twitter.com/AqUrGDeXci
— Chris Williamson (@CWilliamson44) May 2, 2023