Rockets' Dillon Brooks on first game in Memphis vs. Grizzlies: 'This has been circled on my schedule'

The former Grizzlies forward will play at FedExForum as a visitor for the first time on Friday night

Former Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks has already played two games against his ex-teammates as a member of the Houston Rockets, the latest a 117-104 win on Wednesday. Both, however, were in Houston. On Friday, when the Rockets visit FedExForum, it will be the first time Brooks has ever played there as a visitor. 

Might this particular game be special to Brooks? Might he have some extra motivation?

"Yeah," Brooks told reporters Wednesday. "I can't wait to get back out there and [be] playing, and I'm excited. And this has been circled on my schedule."

Brooks' six-year tenure with the Grizzlies ended poorly, with a report four days after they were eliminated from the 2023 playoffs indicating that he'd been told he wouldn't be back "under any circumstances." Mere months before that, coach Taylor Jenkins had campaigned for Brooks to make the All-Defensive Team, raved about his competitiveness and called him "the guy who epitomizes" the program they were trying to build.

The relationship between the Memphis organization and the player it drafted No. 45 overall in 2017 went south after Brooks gave the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James some bulletin-board material leading up to the playoffs, called the 38-year-old star "old" during the first round, got ejected for hitting James in the groin, got fined for not speaking to the media after three losses, shot 10-for-42 (23.8%) from 3-point range in the series and said in his end-of-season press conference that he had "way more to my game" than his role allowed him to show.

Brooks, who joined the Rockets on a four-year, $86 million contract in the offseason, told Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix during training camp that "the whole season was not what I wanted," adding that the Grizzlies "did better when I was a focal point in that organization" and he was "happy that through all the bullshit I was able to get what I always deserved." He also suggested that, rather than supporting him during his back-and-forth with James, the organization made a tactical decision to let him take the heat. 

"What I didn't like about Memphis was they allowed that so they can get out of the woodwork, and then I'm the scapegoat of it all," Brooks told Sports Illustrated. "That's what I didn't appreciate. And then ultimately they'll come to me on the low, as men, one on one and tell me something, but then not defend me when everything went down."

Back when Ja Morant was just a rookie, Brooks said he thought the Grizzlies could "build a dynasty." For a time, he did epitomize the program; he was the connective tissue between the Morant era and the Grit-'n'-Grind years that came before it, both because of his physicality and the fact that Marc Gasol and Mike Conley were still there when he arrived. Now, however, "Dillon the Villain" might be treated like one in Memphis. On Friday, he might be the rare returning player who is honored with a tribute video and booed.

Brooks, who is averaging 13.2 points on a career-high 58.2% true shooting (and a career-high 39.4% from deep) with the lowest usage rate (18.7%) he has posted since his rookie season, said Wednesday that he "can't wait" to see the Grizzlies' head of sports medicine, Eric Oetter, who has "been there throughout my whole career" and didn't accompany the team on either of its trips to Houston. As for what he expects of the atmosphere, Brooks opted not to make any predictions.

"I hope excitement," Brooks said. "I'm excited. I miss the Forum. I just can't wait to get out there, shoot on the court and see what it's all about, see what happens."