Dillon Brooks Makes Bold Victor Wembanyama MVP Claim, Takes Jab At Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Dillon Brooks drops a bold claim on Victor Wembanyama's dominance over the MVP awards and defends Tony Brothers amid criticism with a subtle jab at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

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Credits: Imagn Images

Dillon Brooks recently appeared on a livestream with a renowned Twitch streamer, Ray, where he spoke about several things around the NBA. He initially made a bold claim about Victor Wembanyama, who has been on a stellar run in the playoffs so far.

“You want to see Wemby? Once Wemby gets his first, you probably won’t see anybody else get one,” said Brooks while talking about the MVP race this year.

“Once Wemby gets his first MVP, you’re not gonna see another person get an MVP. His numbers are going to go up every year,” the Suns forward boldly added.

“But he keeps f—king up the play where a little guard comes and sets the screen and he comes off of it, and no one switches on him, and he just gets one dribble, and he’s rossing the rim.”

“I’m the real straps for Wemby,” Brooks said while implying he’s the only one in the league who can guard Wembanyama.“I’m telling you, go search up his numbers against me, they’re really low. I’ve got to see him now, I haven’t seen him this year.” 

“For sure,” Brooks said when Ray asked if it would ‘be over for everybody’ if Wembanyama gets stronger. “You understand now he can shoot over anybody. Once he understands that, it’s over,” the Suns forward added as he claimed Wembanyama has still not realized his full potential.

Considering that Dillon Brooks had not faced Wembanyama since leaving the Rockets [both players were injured this season], Brooks has a 5-2 advantage in his record going up against the French star.

In the seven games they faced off against each other when Brooks was in Houston, Wembanyama averaged 16.7 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 3.9 blocks while shooting 44.6% from the field and 22.5% from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Brooks averaged 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while going 37.7% from the floor and 29.0% from behind the three-point line.

Just as predicted earlier in the season, Wembanyama has already locked in the first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year award while becoming the youngest ever to have that accolade. He was named alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic among the top three candidates for the MVP award this season as well.

The French star averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists while shooting 51.2% from the field and 34.9% from beyond the arc in the regular season. He led the Spurs to the second seed in the West, jumping from a 34-48 record last season (13th in the West) to a 62-20 record this time.

If he wins the MVP award this season, he will become the fourth player in the league’s history to win the top two prestigious individual awards alongside Michael Jordan (1987-88), Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019-20).

It is a bit scary to think that just in his third year, he is already nearing the pinnacle of the league, and it’s not even on his full potential, then what his full potential could look like is stuff for the nightmares of the rest of the league.

 

Dillon Brooks Speaks On Tony Brothers Amid Rampant Criticism Of Officials

There has been a rampant narrative building in the NBA that there needs to be increased accountability on officials amid a clearly growing bias for certain ‘superstar’ players in the league.

Tony Brothers, a senior NBA official, was involved in a dust-up with Chris Finch a few days ago, and also had a viral confrontation with a Twitch streamer about the calls he was making in the Lakers-Thunder series.

 

Dillon Brooks also spoke about him but had a positive outlook towards the senior official amid all the criticism he faced.

“Tony Brothers, that’s my guy. But people are not f—-ng with him too much right now because he went off on the coach and sh–. But if you’re in the NBA, you know that about Tony. He’s no bull—-. He’ll talk back with you, make some jokes.”

“I like him because he keeps the NBA… There are a lot of young guys in the NBA right now who are refereeing that I personally don’t think are good because they’re making calls based on emotion.”

“You see all those highlights of Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] where Marcus Smart is contesting, but no one is touching him, or when he’s shooting, and no one is touching him. He’s selling it so the refs can see the movement, and it looks like a foul. And then these [young] guys get pressured to call it. That’s why I like him, because he’s no bull—- like he doesn’t play that.”

While Chris Finch called out Tony Brothers for being unprofessional, Brooks feels that he has a much more realistic outlook towards officiating than the newer, younger officials who are getting pressured into calling fouls for superstar players.

It is a bit off-putting to hear Dillon Brooks take a jab at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander like that, considering he was sitting courtside less than 48 hours ago, cheering for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder to close out the Lakers.

But maybe even Gilgeous-Alexander knows that he can’t expect his friend not to call it how he sees it. Brooks even clapped back at some shade from Gilgeous-Alexander on social media after the Thunder swept the Suns in the first round. So clearly, both these players know how to keep their personal relationship separate from their professional one, since they are both Canadian teammates at the end of the day.

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Chaitanya Dadhwal is an NBA Analyst and Columnist at Fadeaway World from New Delhi, India. He fell in love with basketball in 2018 after seeing James Harden in his prime. He joined the sports journalism world in 2021, one year before finishing his law school in 2022. He attended Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat, India, where his favorite subject was also Sports Law.He transitioned from law to journalism after realizing his true passion for sports and basketball in particular. Even though his journalism is driven by his desire to understand both sides of an argument and give a neutral perspective, he openly admits he is biased towards the Houston Rockets and Arsenal. But that intersection of in-depth analysis and passion helps him simplify the fine print and complex language for his readers.His goal in life is to open his own sports management agency one day and represent athletes. He wants to ensure he can help bridge the gap in equal opportunity for athletes across various sports and different genders playing the same sport.
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