As the Los Angeles Lakers were facing a possible sweep at the hands of Western Conference No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder, one face in the crowd couldn’t be happier to see it all unfold.
Dillon Brooks, the Phoenix Suns wing, enforcer, villain and LeBron James pest, was spotted sitting courtside at Crypto.com Arena with a smile on his face as the Lakers entered halftime trailing 49-45. The 30-year-old, fresh off getting swept against the Thunder in the first round, apparently couldn’t help but get out to LA to watch his nemesis possibly meet the same fate in the second round.
Brooks and James have a history dating back to the first round of the 2023 playoffs, when he openly taunted the NBA’s all-time leading scorer as the two exchanged verbal jabs in the media and got into a confrontation during Game 3, with Brooks later taking jabs at James’ age.
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“I don’t care. He’s old. You know what I mean?” Brooks, then with the Memphis Grizzlies, told reporters at the time. “I was waiting for that. I was expecting him to do that [in] Game 4, Game 5. He wanted to say something when I got my fourth foul. He should have been saying that earlier on. But I poke bears. I don’t respect no one until they come and give me 40.”
After the Lakers took that series in six games, James took to Instagram.
“If you ever see me fighting in the forest with a Grizzly bear,” James wrote in his caption. “HELP THE BEAR.”
The two were at it again this past December, when Brooks told reporters that James “likes people that bow down. I don’t bow down.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dillon Brooks sits courtside at Laker playoff game to spite LeBron
