Dillon the Villain really can't help himself sometimes.
In his first appearance since a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance in the Phoenix Suns' loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, Dillon Brooks had plenty to say — as he often does.
And you guessed it, his comments were about LeBron James.
"I guess (James) is a social media junkie, so he's been seeing, I guess what I'm saying," Brooks told reporters on Wednesday after Suns practice. "He thinks, I told you, he thinks people should think a (certain) way about him, and not say nothing about him, or, you know, play a certain way.
"I'm not going to play that way. So he gets in his moods or his modes or whatever it is, and I'm all for that."
Quite that statement from the Mississauga, Ont. native, who's never shied away from sharing his opinions on James throughout the years, dating back to their scuffles when Brooks was a member of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The 29-year-old's latest comments come days after he helped Phoenix nearly complete a 20-point rally in the fourth-quarter against L.A., before ultimately playing a pivotal part in the loss.
Down two, Suns forward Ryan Dunn stuffed Marcus Smart on a drive to the rim, Devin Booker corralled the rebound, took it the other way, missed a pull-up jumper, but grabbed the rebound and sent it out to Brooks behind the arc, who cashed the triple.
The basket put the Suns up 114-113 with 12.2 to go, and would've stood as the game-winning basket for Brooks over his bitter rival — James is up 17-8 for those keeping score.
A moment that gave the Suns guard enough confidence that he decided to chirp James as the two worked their way down the floor, but as he's done many times before, Brooks took things one step too far as he bumped the 41-year-old and earned a costly technical foul.
James did go on to miss the charity-stripe shot, but it didn't change the fact that Brooks was disqualified from the game on that play and had to watch the final moments unfold from the sideline.
The Lakers would ultimately re-take the lead and win the game thanks to a pair of James free throws earned courtesy of a Devin Booker foul with less than five seconds to go.
If Brooks could turn back time on that play, he would've wanted the Suns to approach things a little differently.
"I wish we would have let him shoot that shot and that (expletive) would have been an airball."
Quite the assumption, considering Brooks is talking about the NBA's all-time leading scorer, after all.
It's not the first time the eight-year veteran has gotten into heat while playing against James and the Lakers. Earlier this month, Brooks gave James a taste of his patented shoulder shrug in their first matchup of the year on Dec. 1.
Their rivalry peaked during a first-round series in 2023, when Brooks challenged James ahead of the playoffs before they went back-and-forth with barbs and staredowns throughout the six-game tilt. After saying "I poke bears," Brooks was ejected in Game 3 for a flagrant foul against James, and his Grizzlies — despite being the No. 2 seed — were eventually eliminated by the Lakers, with Brooks bearing the brunt of blame from fans and management.
For what it's worth, Brooks is at least aware of the fact he's let emotions get the better of him on more than one occassion, especially against James.
"That’s my problem through my whole career, is I let those things happen and then I’m off the floor," he explained, per the Athletic's Doug Haller. "Then at the end of the day, how much people hate on me and say I’m not a good player and all that, but when I’m on the floor, it changes the whole game.”
