Dillon Brooks feels like a future Maverick doesn’t he?

Dillon Brooks is going to be a member of the 2023-24 Dallas Mavericks. How do I know this? I don’t know this, but I feel it in my bones. It’s part of the existential dread that exists in my fandom these days when it comes to the Dallas Mavericks. Missing the playoffs with a player as good as Luka Doncic simply does not happen... unless, of course you’re the Dallas Mavericks.

Enter Dillon Brooks into the off-season discussion. Before we progress further, it’s worth noting some facts as things stand, near midnight on May 5th, 2023:

• Dillon Brooks talked an epic amount of trash all year long, only to get worked so badly in the playoffs he skipped his postgame media availability after the final TWO losses of the year, like a coward.
• Shams Charania reported that Brooks “will not be brought back under any circumstances”.
• Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial appeal reported that extension/contract talks broke down in-season because Brooks wanted a bigger role in the offense than the Grizzlies were able to give him.
• ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said on tv that he wanted $25 million a season.

Knowing all this it seems insane to say Brooks will be a Maverick next season, right? Brooks is a chucker, taking between 13.5 and 16.5 field goal attempts per game the last four years. It’s unclear what a “bigger role” means, because that’s a LOT of shots, and in the last four seasons, here’s Dallas players who’ve taken that many per game or more: Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, and Kyrie Irving. That’s the whole list. He’s a historically horrendous offensive player and does NOT make up for it with his defense.

Additionally, Dallas doesn’t have space to sign Brooks, not anywhere near what he reportedly wants. So this should all be a done deal. Why am I still writing about this?

Well, there’s two things. First, this FanDuelTV clip of Chandler Parsons, where he says “I like him in Dallas with Kyrie and Luka”:

There’s still a relationship between Parsons and owner Mark Cuban (Tim MacMahon’s told numerous stories about the two) and there’s a lot of joking chatter that he’s going to be the Dallas General Manager one day. There’s been a fair amount of things said that he had roster input when he was with the Mavericks and it would not be a surprise to me if he’s an informal advisor to Cuban to this day, though there’s nothing behind that besides my gut.

Then, the early betting odds have Dallas as the third most likely team to end up with Brooks, at +500.

Where there’s smoke, folks should look for fire. It’s too early in the off-season to know for sure and yet there are some facts that I can’t ignore. Like how when I don’t want a player, that player becomes a Dallas Maverick. The initial example was Harrison Barnes in the summer of 2016. I also really didn’t want Kyrie Irving and talked about that a lot on podcasts leading up to the trade. So it would make sense that they’d find a way to sign a player I really, really do not want, despite it being pretty difficult to do so.

Now, if you’re someone who’s gotten to this point and is saying “Kirk! The Mavericks can’t turn away talent!” Alright, that’s an interesting discussion! Do me a favor and without looking first, jot down what you think Brooks shoots from the field and from three, and keep in mind the high volume of shots he takes. Here are his numbers. And don’t give me the “Dallas can fix him” speech. Maybe they could! But he’s not a guy I want to root for.

It’s now 12:30 am on May 6th. I’ve been writing and rambling and obsessing because I cannot shake this feeling that he’ll be on the roster for opening day in October. This could be an elaborate attempt at a reverse jinx. Since I’m in charge I’m going to publish this and see how long it takes our staff to realize I’ve done so. Let’s just hope my gut is wrong on this whole idea.