Suns Star Dillon Brooks Takes Not-So-Subtle Shot at Lakers' Luka Doncic

Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks is no stranger to generating controversy, as the 2017 second round selection managed to accrue 20 technical fouls during the course of the 2025-26 season. 

While the University of Oregon alum has alluded to working towards bringing the total down to avoid suspensions in the upcoming season, he certainly leaned into the "villain" persona recently when discussing what opponents complain the most during the course of the season.

Brooks mentioned players such as Stephen Curry, Jaren Jackson Jr., and noted rival LeBron James, but one name in particular opened eyebrows. 

Luka Doncic.

Doncic is well known across the league for his tendency to let officials hear it for prolonged periods of time, but it is somewhat shocking that Brooks specifically made a point to mention the Slovenian guard first.

The clearest reason why it may not land rests in the existing rivalry between Doncic and the Suns, as the current Los Angeles Lakers megastar famously took the one-seed Phoenix Suns down in a seven game series in the 2022 playoffs. Brooks poking the bear simply comes off as an err in judgement by giving the MVP candidate more bulletin board material, but the fallout might extend even deeper than the surface-take approach.

Speculation has run amok in recent weeks that the Suns are gearing up to enter the potential pursuit of a star player that asks for a trade in the next year or two, with puzzle pieces being put together to conclude that Doncic will be of great interest to Suns GM Brian Gregory.

Gregory has managed to stack the roster with plus athletes, quality shotmakers, and versatile defenders - many of which would remain on the roster even after a hypothetical trade gets completed.

Why would Brooks be actively creating conflict with a player that could be of interest to the Suns in the very near future? That is something that only Brooks can answer, but it's very likely tied into his competitive spirit. The 6'7" wing is coming off of the best season of his career, but has yet to abandon who he is as a person or a player at the core. 

At the end of the day, the Suns can only control what is in front of them before looking towards any new trade possibilities - the new-look team will begin the ramp-up to the season starting in late September.