Dillon Brooks stunned lots of people in the beginning of this 12 months’s NBA offseason when he agreed to fulfill with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Regardless of being one of many greater title gamers obtainable this summer season, Brooks’ latest historical past with L.A. led many to consider that there could be lingering unhealthy blood there.
His seeming openness to signing with them, nonetheless, signaled that wasn’t the truth is the case. In the end, Brooks wound up touchdown with the Houston Rockets.
This week the true purpose he opted to affix the Rockets over the Lakers emerged.
In line with Kelly Iko of The Athletic, it was primarily a enterprise subject.
“Brooks additionally met with the Lakers, however there was no easy pathway to buying him given their cap state of affairs, except the Lakers have been ready to go down the complicated sign-and-trade path that Houston did,” Iko wrote.
That actually makes lots of sense. The sign-and-trade that landed Brooks in Houston concerned 4 different groups: the Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, LA Clippers and Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder.
Corralling all these organizations and property is lots of work – and it’s comprehensible that the Lakers couldn’t justify it for a man who shot 32 % from three final 12 months.
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As an alternative, they went and obtained Gabe Vincent for a way more cheap value, after which re-signed Austin Rivers, Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell.
Brooks is a extremely stable defensive participant, however whether or not he’s value $86 million over 4 years could be very debatable.
The Lakers and Rockets each had busy summers. Which crew’s choice on methods to deal with Brooks will finally show to be the best one in hindsight? A solution by some means will emerge subsequent season.
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