Hey, Dillon Brooks, Poke LeBron James at Your Own Peril

Many other opponents have tried, and failed, to throw James off his game. So can we expect more of the same in Saturday’s Game 3?

Dillon Brooks was serious. Standing in the Grizzlies’ locker room Wednesday, wearing large reflective sunglasses that covered his eyes and an oversize chain bearing his initials that fell against his bare chest, Brooks shrugged off a question about whether it was disrespectful to verbally and repeatedly engage LeBron James.

“I don’t care; he’s old,” Brooks said after Memphis evened its first-round series against LeBron and the Lakers, 1–1. “I poke bears. I don’t respect no one until they come and give me 40 [points].”

It was a bold statement by Brooks, though players engaging in mental warfare with James is nothing new.

In 2008, James’s Cavaliers were set to take on Washington in the third straight postseason. Weeks earlier, Wizards swingman DeShawn Stevenson famously called James “overrated.” Asked for comment, James likened it to Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy. From there it escalated. Soulja Boy sat courtside for Game 3. Jay-Z later released a diss track … about Stevenson. James averaged 30 points in the series. The Cavs bounced the Wizards in six games.

Brooks and LeBron will square off again, this time in Los Angeles, in Saturday’s Game 3 :: Brandon Dill/AP

In 2014, Lance Stephenson escalated a percolating rivalry with James in the Eastern Conference finals. In a physical matchup between the Pacers and Heat, Stephenson tried all the tricks. He shouldered James. Elbowed him. When James hit the floor, Stephenson straddled and stood over him. During a break in the action, Stephenson stuck his fingers near James’s mouth. In Game 5, Stephenson broke the internet when he was caught on camera blowing into James’s ear.

The result was similar. James averaged 23 points. Miami won the series in six games. Years later, Stephenson said he didn’t regret any of it.

“I was really trying to get him mad,” Stephenson told The Score after signing with the Lakers in 2018. “Really trying to win the game, trying to get him unfocused. I was trying anything. For you to do something to somebody and they don’t respond, they keep continuing and playing hard, and it’s like, ‘Yo, how do I get in this [guy’s head].’ I was just trying to find stuff.”

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Perhaps the only player to get the best of James was Jason Terry. In 2011, Terry was a top sixth man in Dallas. Before the season, Terry tattooed the Larry O’Brien Trophy—which is awarded to the NBA champion—to his bicep. In the Finals, the Mavericks faced the Heat. After Dallas fell behind 2–1, in part due to James’s physical defense, Terry said, “We’re going to see if he can do it for seven games.” The Mavs went on to win the next three, with Terry burying a deep three over James in the closing seconds of Game 5 that secured a Dallas win.

Two years later, with Terry playing in Boston, James sent him to the floor after a highlight reel dunk. Afterward, James would admit Terry’s trash talk in 2011 made the dunk a little more special.

Brooks is the latest agitator to attempt to knock James off his game. Brooks said he respected James.

“He’s a legend,” Brooks said. But vowed not to back down.

“You can’t be looking at this guy like he’s LeBron James,” said Brooks. “He’s just another basketball player. I’m ready for the challenge every single night.”

Against Memphis, James has been solid. He is averaging 24.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and shooting 51.4% from the floor. On Saturday, Brooks will get another crack at James when the series shifts to Los Angeles.

He will either win the psychological battle—or become the latest James opponent to fail trying.