Season in Review: Dillon Brooks was the “Villain” we all desperately needed

Welcome to our Phoenix Suns Season in Review series, where we revisit every player who suited up during the 2025–26 campaign through the lens of expectation, reality, and what it ultimately meant.

Player Snapshot

2026-27 Contract Status: $20.0 million

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*SunsRank is based on Bright Side writers’ ranking.

Season in One Sentence

Dillon Brooks provided the exact edge and high-intensity defensive resistance that Phoenix desperately needed, even if his occasional boundary-testing on offense left the coaching staff pulling their hair out.

By the Numbers

GP

MIN

PPG

RPG

APG

STL

FG%

3PT%

FT%

OFFRTG

DEFRTG

+/- (TOTAL)

56

30.4

20.2

3.6

1.8

1.0

43.5%

34.4%

84.2%

113.7

114.8

-49

The Expectation

The ask was simple, at least on paper. Give Devin Booker a break from the toughest nightly assignments. Bring physicality to a wing rotation that had been getting pushed around for two years. Hit enough corner threes to stay on the floor in crunch time. Phoenix did not need Brooks to reinvent himself. They needed him to show up and be exactly who he already was.

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We knew what came with all of that. The technicals. The mind games. The staredowns. The relentless trolling. Sometimes it could cost you points in critical moments, but you have to take the good with the bad when it comes to Dillon Brooks. You don’t get the Villain without it.

The Reality

Dillon Brooks had a breakout season for the Phoenix Suns. He averaged a career-high 20.2 points per game on 43.5% shooting from the floor. It wasn’t just his scoring that set the tone of the Suns; it was what he did on the other end of the court.

Brooks was the one guy on this roster who genuinely looked forward to guarding the other team’s best player. He did not rotate off, did not take plays off, and did not flinch when the assignment got ugly. He’d mix it up and get in the head of the opponent’s top option.

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His catch-and-shoot numbers held at a respectable 36.8% from deep, which kept defenses from sagging off him entirely and gave the offense legitimate spacing to work with. He shot 34.4% from deep overall, and 49.2 on two-point field goals.

Here is where it gets…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/season-review-dillon-brooks-villain-120000955.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-19 12:00:00

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