Izuchukwu OkosiNational Basketball Association (NBA) superstar Dillon Brooks is reportedly moving on from Memphis Grizzlies after spending his first six seasons with the team and will be joining the Houston Rockets.
Per multiple reports on NBA free agents, Brooks has agreed to a four-year, $80 million deal with the Rockets.
Brooks may wind up joining the Rockets via a sign-and-trade deal. However, his move to Houston makes him the second reported veteran to find a free-agency home in Houston, joining Fred VanVleet who agreed to a reported three-year, $130 million deal on Friday.
Brooks was drafted by the Rockets for Memphis with the 15th pick of the second round (No. 45 overall) in 2017, has now built upon the completion of his three-year, $35 million extension with the Grizzlies.
The 6-foot-7 swingman averaged 14.3 points, 3.3 rebounds 2.6 assists per game last season for the Grizzlies. He is known as a defensive-minded player and was named to the 2022-23 All-Defensive second team.
Aside from his defense, Brooks may have also been known for the antagonist role he took on against opponents like LeBron James, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson in playoff series throughout the years.
However, his role as such was not without its baggage. He was ejected from Game 3 of the Grizzlies’ first-round series this year against the Los Angeles Lakers after he struck James in the groin.
Brooks said afterward that the flagrant foul he received was an accident and that he believed his reputation in the media and among the basketball public lead to his ejection.
“The media making me a villain, the fans making me a villain and then that just creates a whole different persona on me,” Brooks told reporters in late April.
Brooks led the NBA with 18 technical fouls this season, earning a pair of one-game suspensions in the process. He described his own playing philosophy during the series as: “I poke bears,” and he made headlines across the league by dismissively calling James “old” even though the 27-year-old Brooks was the oldest active player on his own roster.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
Follow Us