Kendrick Perkins Rips Memphis Grizzlies For Announcement to Not Re-Sign Dillon Brooks: ‘You Don’t Have to Put it Out There Like That’
Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins was disappointed in the Memphis Grizzlies for the way the team announced it wouldn’t be re-signing guard Dillon Brooks.
NBA insider Shams Charania first broke the news Tuesday afternoon. According to him, the Grizzlies informed Dillon Brooks they would not bring him back “under any circumstances.”
Speaking on NBA Today, Perkins said he found that language unnecessary.
“Well, I expected them not to (re-sign him),” Perkins said shortly after the news. “But, again, it’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. And I don’t think it’s funny – to be honest – how the Grizzlies are handling this situation as far as Dillon Brooks. It’s one thing for us to clown and joke about him throughout the course of the series. But when you come back and you say that you’re not gonna bring him back no matter the circumstances, like zero chances?”
Brooks spent his entire six-year career in Memphis and was the longest-tenured member of the team. As a “3 and D” player, he’s often tasked with defending the other team’s best players while also being looked to as a reliable 3-point shooter. Two seasons ago, he averaged 25.8 points per game in the playoffs while shooting 40% from 3-point range. This year, those numbers plummeted to 10.5 and 23.8%.
Still, for everything Brooks has done for the organization, Perkins believes the Grizzlies should have given him a more positive send-off.
“This guy’s up for a contract,” Perkins said. “This guy spent six years in your organization; and a couple of those years, he was actually great for you.
“This is not the way you want to be trending. If you’re trying to be eye candy and attract guys to come in and play alongside Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant, you don’t want them to feel like, ‘Oh, this is how they did Dillon Brooks,’ because that’s how I would look at it.”
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