Dillon Brooks may be LeBron James’ chief hater, but even he has some respect for what the Los Angeles Lakers star has accomplished.
Brooks was in attendance at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif. on Monday to watch James and the Lakers be eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in a four-game sweep. Despite his well-known antipathy toward James, Brooks was highly complimentary of the Lakers star and predicted that James will play one more season.
“I don’t think it’s his last year,” Brooks told Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. “I think he got one more in him. I watched him when I was in the NBA, when I was a kid in high school. He’s got a phenomenal career and battled everybody and done it at a high level throughout. It’s been amazing to watch overall, a pleasure to battle against him.”
That is a far cry from Brooks’ previous comments in which he has dismissed James as old and overrated. Obviously, things are a bit different when the two are not directly competing against each other. After all, Brooks’ Suns got swept by that same Thunder team, so in this situation, he cannot really talk.
Then again, Brooks showed up to the game and sat in the perfect position to troll James. That, in itself, is its own form of disrespect, regardless of what he actually says.
