Dillon Brooks, a career role player who has never averaged more than 18.2 points per game in any season of his career, has become the story of the NBA playoffs. The reason? Dillon Brooks is making everybody—and LeBron James, in particular—super mad. During the first three games of the Memphis Grizzlies first round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooks has taken his troll game to a new level. After Game 2, Brooks dismissed James' chestiness: “I don't care,” Brooks said about Lebron James. “He's old.”

In Game 3, Brooks whacked James in the groin, earning an ejection and possible suspension in the process. Fortunately for the Grizzlies, though, Brooks will be available in Game 4.

While Brooks has been the team's spiritual tone setter all year, his presence on the court is of dubious value to the Grizzlies. For the first three games of the series, the Grizzlies have been markedly better with Brooks on the bench.  In the 71 minutes that Brooks has played, the Grizzlies have been outscored by 11.35 points per 100 possessions, largely thanks to a ghastly 117.02 defensive rating. Conversely, in their 73 Brooks-less minutes, the Grizzlies are essentially playing the Lakers to a draw, outscoring L.A. by .7 points per 100 possession sans Brooks and maintaining an elite 107.74 defensive rating in those minutes.

Still, these stats are probably the result of a small sample size. The Grizzlies had a better net rating with Brooks on the court all year long. Similarly, the Grizzlies were more than seven points better per 100 possessions with Brooks on the court in each of 2021 and 2022. For all of his antics, Dillon Brooks has been a very good player for a long time, but Grizzlies just need to hope that he starts walking the walk against Lebron James and the Lakers rather than merely talking the talk.