Dillon Brooks has not had a great last couple of weeks, as his defiant insistence to “poke bears” backfired in the Grizzlies first round series, as he became the focal point of their overall struggles in a six-game loss to the Lakers. Brooks was ejected for a low blow on LeBron James shortly after calling him old, saw James score the dagger on him in Game 4, and had his shooting shortcomings put on display.
The antics and shooting struggles have come to overshadow the positive work Brooks does on the defensive end, and has led to questions about his immediate future as he enters free agency. That future will, apparently, not be in Memphis, as a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic on Tuesday stated the Grizzlies had told Brooks in exit interviews he wouldn’t be brought back “under any circumstances.” The wording of the report was particularly blunt and led to an awful lot of conversation online wondering where, exactly, this report was coming from, as it seemed a bit harsh to have come from a team leak.
JJ Redick, in particular, took aim at the effort to scapegoat Brooks by…someone on Wednesday’s First Take, which caught the attention of Brooks’ agent, Mike George, who ripped Charania for the report.
@ShamsCharania the leader of spreading false news and attacking players. Why any player in the league talks to this guy blows my mind. #weirdo https://t.co/Coj2b0aY6E
— Mike George (@MikeGTdot) May 3, 2023
The current state of news-breaking and reporting in sports requires fans to constantly wonder where information is coming from, as there is a give and take approach to the passage of information with those talking usually doing so in an effort to push a certain angle. An agent like George is certainly well aware of how that game is played, which is why it’s notable that he’d call Charania out publicly like this. George’s client list is plenty long, highlighted by Jamal Murray, so for him to voice this level of frustration at Charania’s reporting is quite eye-opening. Even with some wild reporting that gets out there, we rarely see an agent take aim at one of the top news-breakers like this, but it’s clear George has had enough of the chatter about his client.