For years, NBA's biggest heels have gravitated towards LeBron James like moths to a flame and, this year, the Memphis Grizzlies are no different. Having antagonized the Timberwolves and setting up a REIT in the Warriors' head last year, the Grizzlies have hardly ingratiated themselves with Lebron James or the Lakers through the first two games of their first round series; watch any possession and you're bound to see Dillon Brooks and company yapping in James' ear. But beyond just this series, the Dillon Brooks and the Grizzlies have delighted in trolling and trash-talking Lebron James even more than they delight in trolling and trash-talking everybody else in the league. In fact, a beatdown of the Lakers in January 2022 introduced the Grizzlies as one of the NBA's best and most loathsome teams. Here's the complete timeline of the beef between James and Dillon Brooks and the Memphis Grizzlies.

January 5, 2021

With a minute left in the Lakers' tenth game of the 2021 season, Lebron James nailed a game-icing turnaround jumper over Brooks to secure a win against the Grizzlies. Naturally, he hit Brooks with the “too small” gesture, paying Brooks back for staring him down after an and-one finish earlier in the game. At the time, this barely registered on the NBA's beef Richter Scale, but it can now be parsed as the cradle of the most explosive rivalry of this year's playoffs.

January 9, 2022

Almost exactly one year later, the Grizzlies exacted their revenge. By then, the Grizzlies were already one of the NBA's ascendant teams, sitting second in the West and setting a franchise-record nine game winning streak with their 127-119 dismantling of the Lakers.

“That's your last time,” James said to Bane midway through the third quarter, yelling loud enough to be picked up by the TV mics. “That's your last motherf—ing time, that's your last time disrespecting me.”

When Kyle Anderson tells him to chill, James does the opposite.

“I'm not chillin'!” James shouts back. “Nah, he ain't hoopin'. He talkin' s—. This is the last motherf—ing time I'm gonna say it.”

Down by 22 points at this point, James unloaded a massive poster dunk on Jaren Jackson Jr. on the next possession, an ultimately meaningless moment that's since been immortalized by Instagram Reels and TikToks with that one Metro Boomin instrumental in the background.

January 20, 2023

For the third January in a row, the Grizzlies and Lakers got really mad at each other. Even if James himself wasn't a combatant, Shannon Sharpe decided to take matters into his own hands, waging a proxy war on James' behalf from his courtside seat. Sharpe and Brooks chirped at each other for most of the first half and it eventually escalated to the point that the entire Grizzlies' coaching staff and arena security had to intervene as Brooks, Steven Adams and Ja Morant's middle-aged dad walked up on Sharpe.

“They do all that talking and jockeying and I ain’t about that jockeying,” Sharpe told ESPN's Dave McMenamin about the fracas. It started with Dillon Brooks. I said he was too small to guard LeBron. He said ‘F*** me.’ I said ‘F*** you’ back. He started to come at me and I said ‘You don’t want these problems.’ And then Ja came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously didn’t want no problems. But I wanted anything they had. Don’t let these fools fool you now.”

During his postgame availability, Brooks savagely dismissed Sharpe as a “blogger” and got a little dig in at James for good measure.

“He doesn't want to go left,” Brooks said after the game when asked about how he held James to only 23 points. “I was just making him go left all game. He would settle or he would pass the ball.”

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April 16, 2023

Just a month after saying he “wouldn't mind playing [LeBron] in a seven game series,” Brooks saw his wish come true. While James managed to rile up the Grizzlies a little bit by trying to eavesdrop on a conversation between Brooks and Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura ultimately ended up defining the contest. Icing the game with a virtuosic 14 point fourth quarter, Reaves bounded around the court, screaming “I'm him” at the whole city of Memphis.

Not to be outdone, Hachimura dropped 29 points off the bench in by far his best game with the Lakers.

“It's a seven-game series,” Bane sneered afterwards. “Let's see if he can do it again [in Game 2].”

April 19, 2023

Staring down a must-win game without Ja Morant, the Grizzlies did what they do best: make everybody super mad. Once again, Brooks seized an opportunity to jab at James, mean-mugging the future Hall of Famer after drilling a clutch fourth quarter three. In response, James seemingly called Brooks (who had gone 3-11 up until that point) “a bum.” Shockingly, Brooks had more to say after the game.

“I don’t care,” Brooks said about his squabble with James. “He’s old….I poke bears. I don’t respect someone until he gives me 40.”