LeBron James Held Back As Dillon Brooks Trolls, Social Media Cheers

NBA player Dillon Brooks is known for being a master troll, and in Sunday night’s Phoenix Suns game against the Los Angeles Lakers, he brought his theatrics straight to the King.

The Suns-Lakers game started off pretty evenly, with the first half ending in a 62-point tie, but the excitement began at the onset of the second half.

The Lakers dominated the third quarter, going on a fiery 24-0 run. Yet the Suns refused to cave and mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter, erasing the 20-point deficit.

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With the hyped-up Phoenix crowd in the background, it was Brooks who hit the final three-pointer to overcome the Lakers’ lead, as he fell to the ground with 12 seconds left. As if the Lakers weren’t already on edge, Brooks bumped into LeBron James heading back up the court, and a whistle was immediately blown.

A referee immediately separated the two as James tried to push past one of the staffers to approach Brooks. But it ended with Brooks getting ejected for his second technical and James getting a foul shot with the game at 114-113, Suns.

However, James missed the free throw, but got fouled on the next play during a three-point attempt. He made two of the shots, putting the Lakers up 115-114 and eventually winning the game.

There was also a testy moment in the third quarter when James was defending Brooks and needed to be held back by Rui Hachimura during a disagreement with the referee.

After the game, James chalked the Brooks run-in up to competitiveness.

“He’s going to compete. I’m going to compete. We’re going to get up in each other’s face. Tried not to go borderline with it. I don’t really take it there. But we just competed. And did that almost all the way to the end of the game,” James said.

This isn’t the first time the two have had at it. Back in 2023, when Brooks was with the Memphis Grizzlies, he hit James in the groin, claiming he was “poking the bear.”

And in a game earlier this month, he talked about antagonizing James and whether it got a reaction out of him.

“Always, always, always,” Brooks said. “He likes people who are going to bow down. I don’t bow down. That either entices him or it aggravates him.”

See social media’s reaction to the altercation below.