With the Memphis-Lakers series over, Austin Reaves has given his honest opinion on Dillon Brook’s trash talk.
“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 told The Athletic. “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.”
As soon as Brooks called LeBron “old” and said that he liked to “poke bears”, things went from bad to worse for the Grizzlies forward.
Not only was Brooks outclassed and outplayed by LeBron, he was ejected for hitting James the groin in Game 3 and was fined by the NBA for his refusal to speak to the media after three losses to Lakers.
During critical moments in Game 4, he was unable to lock James up on defense, and only contributed 10.5 points, three rebounds and 1.8 assists on just 31.2 percent shooting from the floor in the postseason.
Then in Memphis’ exit interviews Brooks was informed he “will not be brought back under any circumstances”, according to The Athletic.
Memphis GM Zach Kleiman gave a clear indication why the franchise won’t be resigning Brooks.
“We’re going to take a different approach as it pertains to [trash talk] next season,” Kleiman said this week. “You’ll see a different approach from this team, but at the same time, confidence is important. … There’s a line there, certainly.”
Brooks said he didn’t regret anything he did, but now it has ultimately cost him a spot on Memphis’ roster.
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