Meet 'Dillon the villain': The NBA's biggest antagonist beloved by teammates

"We wanted Dillon. I envisioned him from a cultural perspective, a leadership perspective and an impact perspective at a really high level. He's been even better than expected."

Phoenix, widely expected to miss the playoffs again, has been one of the NBA's most pleasant surprises this season. The Suns had a 45-37 record to finish seventh in the Western Conference standings. They are one win away from a playoff berth, hosting the Golden State Warriors on Friday (10 p.m. ET, Prime) to set up a first-round matchup with the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

Brooks' impact has been immense, as his snarling presence has helped shape the team's hardworking personality. It's almost a bonus that Brooks is having the best offensive season of his nine-year career, averaging 20.2 points as the second option behind face of the franchise Devin Booker.

"Anybody that matches up with him and gets annoyed by him or falls into his antics, you understand already that that's somebody you would love to be a teammate with," Booker said. "Especially a guy that goes out there and guards other teams' star players. People still might get off on him, might get their numbers on him, but you know he's there in some capacity. I know that from the other side, so I've always had respect for him.

"Like everybody says, he's the guy you want on your team. Other fan bases will hate him, but if he was a part of your team, they would rally behind him."

A COUPLE OF weeks after being traded to Phoenix, Brooks walked into UNLV's Cox Pavilion to say his goodbyes. The Rockets' summer league team was playing, and Brooks wanted to see general manager Rafael Stone and other members of the franchise's front office and staff.

It was all smiles as Brooks sat courtside with the Rockets' brass. There were mutual expressions of gratitude, a drastic difference from the hard feelings following the embarrassing ending of Brooks' six-year tenure with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2023.

Brooks was proud to have been a part of the Rockets' turnaround over the previous two seasons and had no problem with Houston's decision to include him in a trade for a Hall of Famer who filled their glaring need for a go-to guy.

"[Stone] was telling me the whole time that they didn't want to have my name in it," Brooks said. "They wanted to keep me to build more and more to that franchise. But overall, when you got a guy like Kevin Durant, you cannot pass up on it. And they're doing well. They haven't fell off -- like Memphis did."

Stone stuck his neck out for Brooks two summers earlier by signing him to a four-year, $86 million deal, a contract that was widely criticized in the wake of Brooks' messy ending in Memphis.

"I felt like a lot of people counted me out, thinking I was just going to wash away with the rest of NBA players that had their shine and then were not able to figure out how to evolve and be able to stay in this league," Brooks said. "I didn't want to fall off. I didn't want to call it where I got to go either overseas or chill at home or change my whole career point. I love this game, and I play it because I really love it. I knew that I had to put in the work to be better every single day."

Grizzlies management had soured on Brooks even before he created a sideshow during the first-round playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers, when Brooks dismissively called LeBron James "old" and proudly proclaimed "I poke bears," before Memphis meekly lost in six games. (That beef has continued this season, as Brooks took glee in dropping 33 points on the Lakers in a Dec. 1 win at Crypto.com Arena and then got ejected for bumping James after hitting a go-ahead 3 in the final minute of the Suns' home loss 13 days later.)

Memphis made no attempt to retain Brooks in free agency, in part, sources said, because the front office was concerned that his incessant trash talk and inflammatory antics had become a bad influence on the team's young core. Brooks, a second-round pick in 2017 who emerged as a leader during the young Grizzlies' rise, had become emblematic of a cocky team that didn't back up its bold talk.

"I think there was just no trust overall between the top and bottom, players and front office," Brooks said. "You can see that now. I feel like if we stayed together for two more years, that core group, we're right in the same place as OKC, in my humbling mind. We just had to figure out how to not be injured by the end of the year.

"I'm doing what I do and somehow the scapegoat was me. ... I just felt like I got the short end of the stick, but it motivated me to be better. It motivated me to see a different light in myself and build out what I really wanted to build out, which was work ethic, professionalism, and showcasing that I can play anywhere."

Houston, meanwhile, wanted Brooks to influence its young core. The Rockets banked that Brooks' toughness and work ethic would set the tone, alongside fellow free agent acquisition Fred VanVleet and recently hired head coach Ime Udoka, as the franchise's rebuild entered what owner Tilman Fertitta termed as "Phase II."

After dwelling in or near the West cellar the previous three years, the Rockets made a leap to 41-41 in 2023-24 and 52-30 last season. Brooks embraced his role as a mentor and defensive menace, accepting that he was usually the fifth offensive option in Houston's starting lineup.

"He helped change the culture over here," said Rockets guard Amen Thompson, a rising star who was a rookie when Brooks arrived in Houston. "I feel like Houston loves him. They embrace him and that's my guy. That's like a big brother to me."

One thing Brooks did not change was his mentality. There hasn't been -- and never will be -- a kinder, gentler on-court version of Brooks, who admits to seeking confrontation as a method of fueling his competitive fire. Irritation is an essential element of his game, a tool Brooks uses to ensure he never shifts into competitive cruise control.

"He's a really good guy, great teammate, and he's just such a competitor that when you're playing against him, it almost wipes all of it," Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who plays with Brooks on Team Canada, told ESPN. "It's a little tricky for guys to handle, but he honestly brings so much fire to the game. I appreciate the level of competitiveness he plays with. A lot of times, especially at this level when you get to the NBA, there's so many games, you're tired. Guys don't bring it every night. He brings it every time he steps on the floor, and I respect that so much.

"You either better play [hard] or he's going to embarrass you with straight physicality and energy. Not necessarily skill, but you better bring it or he's going to bring it and embarrass you."

At his best, Brooks toes the line between competitiveness and going too far. But he often steps over it. He was called for 31 technical fouls during his two years in Houston, earning a one-game suspension when he reached the threshold of 16 last season. He led the league with 17 T's this season, drawing another one-game suspension at the 16-technical mark and avoiding another when his 18th T was rescinded by the league office.

In one breath, Brooks boasts that "Phoenix friggin' loves it." In the next breath, he notes that he might need to tone it down a bit due to the threat of another suspension. Then he laughs.

"Some of the antics are his own thing, [but] I don't mind the physicality, edge and all the things he brought to our team," Udoka said. "I think you love him up a little bit, give him some responsibility, and he'll ride with you and do some of the things you're asking. [That] may not have been the case in Memphis."

FOR ALL OF his antics, Brooks has always prided himself on his professionalism, which he defines based on his actions when arenas aren't full.

"You see on the court, it might not be 'professional' because I talk a lot of s---," Brooks said. "I run my mouth. I'm yelling. I'm yelling to the crowd, blah, blah, blah. But that's just in the game. That's my persona.

"I come to work 8 a.m., 7 a.m. every single day. In the summers, I get in at 6:30, two workouts a day, working on my craft, teaching the young guys how to build out their regimens, routines ... so you can be the best that you can be. That's the way I look at it."

Those sessions, as much as Brooks' physical defense and nasty disposition during games, set the bar for these Suns.

"He's in the gym more than anybody that I know," Gillespie said. "You see how hard he works, how competitive he is, and you want to not let your teammate down when you see that. He makes you want to work harder. He challenges you to be in the gym with him, challenges you to play harder.

"You might not like it sometimes if he's getting on you, but it makes you a better player for sure."

Brooks has dubbed Gillespie "Villain Jr." because of the point guard's grittiness and commitment to the grind.

Gillespie is another player who exemplifies the Suns' fresh identity as "well-trained dogs," as Booker put it, meaning intelligent, scrappy and tough. He's a 6-foot-1, 26-year-old who broke into the league on a two-way contract, first in Denver and then in Phoenix. He had a breakout campaign in his first full season on a standard contract, averaging 12.7 points, 4.6 assists and 1.2 steals while playing a larger role than anticipated due to hamstring issues that sidelined Jalen Green (the other player in the Durant deal) for most of the schedule's first few months.

Brooks' affection for Gillespie -- and the rest of his teammates -- is often expressed in tough love at high decibels.

"He'll yell at people," Gillespie said. "Especially in a game, he gets really heated. It doesn't matter who it is. Normally it's stuff on the defensive end, but he's super competitive, tries to hold everyone accountable and holds himself to a high standard."

Brooks has that leeway because of the level of respect he has earned with his relentless effort and intensity. The blunt feedback also comes in the context of a strong bond formed by the Suns even before training camp opened, when Booker organized a minicamp in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he has a mountain home. The team worked out at Northern Arizona University, played golf at the Pine Canyon resort and hung out around the campfire until the early morning hours.

"The vibes are always high," Booker said.

Brooks knew he was joining a team that was already adding new performers. Rookie head coach Jordan Ott has earned praise and respect in the locker room with his X's and O's acumen, adaptability and communication skills, seemingly stopping Phoenix's coaching carousel from spinning after Ishbia made firings and hirings in each of the past three offseasons.

Center Mark Williams, acquired in a draft night deal with the Charlotte Hornets, also has capably filled the gaping hole in the middle of the starting lineup.

Brooks, for his part, brought an unwavering confidence with him from Houston. One of Brooks' initial thoughts after being traded this summer was that Phoenix would provide the opportunity for his work to fully pay off.

He knew the Suns would need scoring after the departures of Durant and Beal. He believed he could be the solution to that issue, which ran contrary to Grizzlies coaches and executives pleading with him to cut down his shooting volume, a request that was supported by statistics that showed he was one of the league's least efficient shooters at the time.

"I thought it was going to be a new beginning for me to reinvent myself," Brooks said. "I'm just glad that I'm in a space where I'm wanted, that they see a big change in their organization and let me be able to be who I am.

"I knew that coming here, I'd be able to showcase all the work I put in in the summers for the past two years and be able to show that I'm really, for real, two-way player."

Brooks is taking and making more shots than ever, hoisting 17.1 attempts per game. He has four 30-plus-point performances this season, three more than he totaled in his two years in Houston. Brooks' rhythm was disrupted by a broken left hand suffered on Feb. 21 that sidelined him for the next six weeks, but he scored 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting in Tuesday's play-in loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

"You don't have a spike in his numbers and efficiency without putting the work in," said Booker, who leads the Suns with 26.1 points per game. "What's done in the darkness comes to light, but we have the advantage and the blessing to actually see him put the work in the dark. I'm proud to see somebody put in the work and then that directly translate. His confidence level through the work and his ability to do it on both sides of the ball is super vital for our team."

Ott has given Brooks the green light to fire away on the kind of shots the Grizzlies wanted him to wean from his game. It's a right Brooks has earned with repetitions and results.

"He plays extremely hard every single night, and he works extremely hard on his game," Ott said. "Those shots he takes, it's exactly what he does in his workouts.

"He's the ultimate competitor."

ESPN's Michael C. Wright contributed to this story.