After ditching multi-time All-Stars Kevin Durant (in a seven-team blockbuster trade) and Bradley Beal (in a contract buyout) over the summer, pundits were hardly expecting the Phoenix Suns to be particularly good this season, sporting a roster of vets and youth around four-time All-Star guard Devin Booker.
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Instead, Phoenix has been one of the happy surprises of the (admittedly very early) season. The Suns are riding high on the wave of a five-game win streak, and at 8-5 on the year currently occupy the loaded Western Conference’s No. 7 seed.
But Phoenix’s unexpected good fortunes have not arrived without some growing pains.
Suns’ small forward Dillon Brooks has been penalized by the league after a 32-point outburst in a win against the Indiana Pacers.
Per the league’s official PR team, Brooks has been dinged with a $25K fine. League executive VP James Jones announced that Brooks had made “a lewd gesture on the playing court” with just 54 seconds left in the game’s opening half.
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Phoenix would go on to run the shorthanded Pacers out of the gym by the end of the contest’s second half, obliterating Indiana 133-98.
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After being elbowed by Pacers guard Ben Sheppard, Brooks leapt into the air and forced up an awkward bank shot that found the bottom of the net. He gestured towards his crotch upon nailing the take.
The 29-year-old was one of two players to score 30-plus points in less than 30 minutes for Phoenix. Booker had 33, along with seven assists and five rebounds.
Brooks, now-injured shooting guard Jalen Green, the rights to No. 10 rookie draft pick Khaman Maluach out of Duke, and five future second-rounders were shipped to Phoenix from Houston in the Durant deal over the summer.
He’s currently in the third season of a four-year, $86 million deal he inked with the Rockets in 2023, and his two-way abilities have paid instant dividends for the Suns.
Across seven healthy contests so far, the Oregon product has been averaging 20.3 points on .436/.327/.933 shooting splits, 2.9 boards and 2.0 dimes per.
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