Dillon

Brooks

Brooks didn’t have a good night shooting the basketball, making three of his ten three-point attempts and going 4-of-14 overall. The good news is that he recorded a complete stat line, which is welcome for a player whose fantasy value has underwhelmed so far. Brooks’ 2025-26 output factored into his preseason ADP, as he exceeded many fantasy managers’ expectations last season.

Brooks was one of three Suns starters in double figures, but Wednesday’s 124-83 defeat was one to forget. “The Villain” recorded no assists or defensive stats and struggled with his shooting. Brooks, who will likely offer late-round value at best in category leagues this season, will look to redeem himself on Saturday when Phoenix hosts Golden State.

While the Suns’ other primary scoring options struggled on Wednesday, Brooks did not. “The Villain,” who was a pleasant surprise in fantasy basketball last season, shot 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and made all four of his two-point attempts. Unfortunately, Brooks was also responsible for five turnovers, but the offensive output is what stood out the most. He remains a late-round option in standard leagues, and Brooks’ floor may be appealing to risk-averse managers.

Brooks only played 56 games last year, breaking a streak of three consecutive seasons with at least 72 games played. Still, Brooks averaged a career-high 20.2 points per game in his first year in Phoenix. That seems to have made an impression as the Suns decided to lock up the 30-year-old guard for the foreseeable future. With the team bringing in Miles Bridges and Luke Kennard this offseason, it could be tough to repeat the usage that led to his career-high scoring.

After an inefficient Game 1 performance, Brooks has produced consecutive 30-point games. In Game 3, the veteran wing shot a little over 50 percent from the field and led the Suns in field-goal attempts. With Devin Booker struggling and being the focal point of Oklahoma City’s defensive approach, there have been more opportunities for Brooks. While some may want him to tone down the aggressiveness as far as the shot selection is concerned, he’s been effective in back-to-back games.

Brooks bounced back from a very inefficient 18-point performance in Game 1 by hitting the 30-point mark on above 50.0 percent shooting, leading to half of his scoring total. He didn’t make any big splashes in other statistical categories, but his three-point contributions and scoring were big positives nonetheless. The series will flip to Phoenix on Saturday, when Brooks and the Suns will look to avoid going down three games.

Given what he brings to the table defensively, Brooks earns a certain level of freedom on the offensive end of the floor. However, there’s no reason why he should lead the Suns in shot attempts when Devin Booker and Jalen Green are available. In Game 1, Brooks put up 22 shots, with Booker next in line with 17 attempts and Green finishing with 16. That’s something to keep an eye on moving forward, beginning with Wednesday’s Game 2. If the Thunder defense can funnel things towards Brooks consistently, this series could be a sweep.

Brooks had a positive impact in his 37 minutes on Tuesday before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. While on the floor, he was a pest defensively, as shown in his four steals, but also repeatedly made momentum-building shots while the Suns led. Despite taking only 10 shots on the evening, the veteran forward finished as one of three Suns players to tally at least 20 points. Phoenix will hope Brooks can be productive again on Friday against the winner of Wednesday’s Warriors-Clippers matchup.

While Booker, Brooks and O’Neale are sitting for injury-management reasons, Allen is out with a left hamstring injury he sustained during Friday’s loss to the Lakers. As for Saturday evening, the Suns were still listing the issue as a sore hamstring, but that’s something to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday’s play-in game. Rasheer Fleming, Amir Coffey and Koby Brea are three wings who are in line to play rotation minutes on Sunday.

The only Suns starter to play more than 21 minutes on Friday was Ryan Dunn (one point, two rebounds, one assist and one steal), who logged 28. Brooks played 21 minutes, checking out for good during the third quarter. With the Suns locked into their seed for the postseason and Grayson Allen (hamstring) going down during the second quarter of Friday’s game, it would be unsurprising if the team rested Brooks and its other key players ahead of Tuesday’s Play-In game against the Trail Blazers or the Clippers.