Half-hooper, half-villain Dillon Brooks has taken his game to a new level in his debut season with the Phoenix Suns. Envisioning himself as a Kobe Bryant-like scorer, or at least taking his inspiration from the Suns’ former nemesis, he’s averaging a career-high 20.2 points per game in 2025-26. In light of his offensive evolution and the PR he’s getting as a locker room leader, it’s no wonder that he’s become a highly revered player. So much so that he recently made an appearance with popular Twitch streamer Din Muktar (also known as “Agent” or “Agent 00”) on Jan. 22, his birthday.
Phoenix Suns Villain Dillon Brooks: Former Raptors Star DeMar DeRozan ‘Was Not Holding His Weight’
To nobody’s surprise, Brooks made a viral statement while celebrating his birthday with Muktar at a Waffle House. The mic drop came when the two Ontario, CA natives were discussing Toronto Raptors. Notably, Muktar was born and raised in Toronto. Similarly, Brooks was born in Mississauga but lived in Toronto by the time he was in high school. Bearing that in mind, the two have an intimate connection to the city that’s home to the country’s most renowned professional basketball team.
Dillon Brooks went OFF on DeMar DeRozan’s tenure with the Toronto Raptors 😳:
DB: “Raptors couldn’t get over the hump, right?”
A00: “What hump? They got over it!”
LOW: “Why couldn’t they?”
DB: “Why? They got DeRozan out of there.”
“I’ll be real for the city, bro. DeRozan was… https://t.co/8fkvjHeSQb pic.twitter.com/GQ1hgdF38K
— Omer Osman (@OmerOsman200) January 23, 2026
Directing a question towards Muktar, Brooks asks: “(The) Raptors couldn’t get over the hump, right?”
In response, Muktar says, “What hump? They got over it!,” prompting Brooks to reply: “Why? They got (DeMar) DeRozan out of there.”
When Muktar tried to defend former Raptors star DeMar DeRozan, who now plays for the Sacramento Kings, Brooks didn’t let up: “I’ll be real for the city, bro. DeRozan was not holding his weight out there. You can’t do nothing with LeBron (James)?”
Muktar again took up for DeRozan, saying “he’s in the top-five” because he chose to stay when “everybody left.”
Nonplussed, Brooks replies: “He couldn’t win. He’s in the playoffs every year… you run into LeBron, you can’t do nothin’.”
Relenting ever so slightly, Muktar concedes that the Raptors failed to live up to expectations in the playoffs. This led to what was arguably Brooks’ most damning condemnation of DeRozan: “You can choke but you can’t go to the media and say, like, ‘Can’t do nothin’ with ‘Bron.”
One Of The Greatest Raptors Of All-Time
Drafted ninth overall by the Raptors, DeRozan was a certified shot-maker during his time in Toronto.
He holds four of the franchise’s top-10 spots in single-season points and three of the Raptors’ top-10 spots in single-season points per game. In 2016-17, he set the franchise record for the most 2-point field goals (9.3 per game) and free-throws (7.4 per game) made in a single season while his scoring average (27.3 points per game) ranked second in franchise history. In fact, he’s the Raptors’ all-time leader in 2-point field goals (4,391), free-throws (3,539) and points (13,296).
DeMar DeRozan’s Postseason Demons
As Brooks says, DeRozan couldn’t win when it mattered most.
To be fair, Toronto reached the playoffs in five of the nine seasons that he played for them. Yet, they were bounced out of the first round in his first two postseason appearances. DeRozan shot 38.5% from the field against the Brooklyn Nets in 2014, the Raptors losing 3-4 after a one-point loss in a Game 7 that saw DeRozan score 18 points in 45 minutes. In 2016, DeRozan shot 40.0% from the field against the Washington Wizards as they were swept, 0-4.
Then came his infamous meetings with Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, then a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Cut Down By LeBron James & Co.
In the 2016 NBA Playoffs, Toronto finally overcame their first round demons, defeating the Indiana Pacers (4-3). In the second round, they faced an over-the-hill Miami Heat team, winning the series 4-3. Then they met James and the Cavaliers in the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals. To DeRozan’s credit, it was the first round that he shot well in, scoring 23.0 points per game on 50.0% shooting from the field. However, James was magnificent, scoring 26.0 points per game on 62.2% shooting from the field.
The difference between James and DeRozan was stark, the former not only being far more physically imposing but having unrivaled skill. The fact that he was able to dominate at both ends of the floor stood out too, especially with DeRozan’s defensive shortcomings. In the end, the Raptors did put forth a commendable effort, but they lost to Cleveland in six games.
That can’t be said of their next two meetings.
In the 2017 NBA Playoffs, Toronto would find themselves matched up against James’s squad again, albeit in the Eastern Conference semifinals. This time, the Cavs defeated DeRozan’s squad handily (4-0). Averaging 36.0 points per game on 57.3% shooting from the field (48.1% from 3), James was unstoppable. The game was coming so easy to him that he fake-drank a beer on the sidelines in Game 1, one of his most memorable moments.
James finished that game with 35 points, nearly double DeRozan’s total (19).
Unfortunately for the Raptors, 2018 was more of the same.
Again, they met James’s Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs. Again, they failed to win a single game before being eliminated. And, again, DeRozan was at the heart of it all. While James posted an eye-popping 34.0 points and 11.3 assists per game, DeRozan dawdled behind with 16.8 points and 2.8 assists per game. It was so bad that the fans had started to call Toronto “LeBronto.”
‘If We Had LeBron Too’
As if that wasn’t bad enough, DeRozan had sounded defeated since 2017. Worse than that, his losses to James had made him fatalistic. After being swept in the 2017 NBA Playoffs, he told reporters (h/t cleveland.com‘s Chris Fedor:
“If we had LeBron on our team, too, we would have won.”
Over the years, DeRozan would make a number of similarly deferential statements about James. Game recognizes game as they say, and there’s nothing wrong with giving an opponent his respect. However, all it does is continue to reinforce DeRozan’s image as the player the Raptors needed to get rid of.
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