Rockets agree to 4-year, $80M deal with Brooks

Free agent wing Dillon Brooks has agreed on a four-year, $80 million contract with the Houston Rockets, his agent Mike George of One Legacy Sports told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

The deal will be descending in annual salary, sources told Wojnarowski.

The Rockets on Friday also agreed to a deal with veteran point guard Fred VanVleet as the team looks to take a step forward this season under new head coach Ime Udoka.

Brooks, 27, had played for the Grizzlies for his entire six-year career after arriving in Memphis as a second-round pick. He grew into a key starter for a team that made the playoffs the last three seasons, earning a reputation as one of the NBA's premier wing defenders -- as evidenced by his second-team All-Defensive selection last season.

However, the Grizzlies opted against attempting to re-sign Brooks in free agency due to his often-antagonistic antics and poor shot selection. That decision was made soon after the second-seeded Grizzlies were eliminated in the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers, a series in which Brooks made headlines by derisively calling LeBron James "old." Brooks shot only 31.2% from the floor in the series and was fined $25,000 by the NBA for not fulfilling his media obligations after Memphis' last three losses.

Brooks' role in the Grizzlies' offense had been a point of contention for a few years. He averaged a career-best 18.4 points per game in 2021-22 but had a subpar 47.5 effective field goal percentage.

Memphis' coaching staff asked Brooks to accept a lesser role in the offense last season, which he did, averaging 14.3 points on 13.6 field goal attempts per game, both his lowest figures since becoming a full-time starter.

"I don't think I lost anything on the offensive end," Brooks said during his exit interview the day after the Grizzlies were eliminated. "I was just there to three-and-D, shoot and play defense. I got way more to my game than that."