Rich Paul says what all Rockets fans already knew about Dillon Brooks

The Houston Rockets should have no regrets about trading for Kevin Durant, but if they could have kept Dillon Brooks, they would have. Famous NBA agent Rich Paul recently stated that reality.

"I can guarantee you that (if Rafael Stone) could have kept Dillon Brooks and got Kevin Durant, he would have"

- Rich Paul

That's the nature of a trade market. To get, you must give. There was no way around moving Brooks for Durant. To make the money work, the only other option would have been Fred VanVleet, who was even more important to Houston's 2024-25 success. Still, make no mistake:

The Rockets would still love to have Brooks around.

Rockets lost one of the league's most competitive players

Brooks is an irritant. If he's never been on your team, you probably don't like him:

But if he has, you'll love him forever.

Need some dirty work done? Brooks will do it. He's happy to guard the opposing team's best player. He hustles for loose balls. Brooks is focused on winning basketball games, no matter what he has to do to make it happen.

Offensively, his career has been a mixed bag. Brooks averaged 14.0 points while shooting 39.7% from three-point range. This year, he's averaging a career-high 21.6 points per game for the Suns, but he's shooting a subpar 32.2%.

Brooks's ability to create his own shot in isolation has often surprised people. Sometimes, his unwillingness to move away from those sets has frustrated his coaches. Still, he's always been worth any offensive trade-off on defense:

And that's what the Rockets miss about him.

Rockets owe a debt to Dillon Brooks

When the Rockets tanked for three seasons, it came with real risks. There was a widespread concern that the Rockets were teaching their young players to accept losing. Folks worried they'd kill their competitive spirit.

Brooks wouldn't let it happen.

He was partly brought on board to instill that competitive toughness in the team's young core. It worked. Brooks is gone, but his influence is still felt. Houston still plays with the toughness that Brooks has come to typify throughout his NBA career.

The Rockets didn't trade him due to any shortcomings. They traded him because it was better to have Durant. If there'd been a way to keep Brooks in the process, he'd still be in Rockets red.

You don't have to be Rich Paul to see that.