ESPN ranking notes Dillon Brooks' impact on Phoenix Suns' turnaround

ESPN is noticing a pattern with Phoenix Suns guard/forward Dillon Brooks.

“Dillon the Villain is now Dillon the culture changer,” ESPN writer Vincent Goodwill said in ESPN’s “NBA Rank 2026, players Nos. 100-51.”

The ranking ranks the top 100 NBA players for the 2026-27 season. ESPN formulated the list by combining the lists of seven members of their expert panel. Brooks was ranked as the 76th-best player in the NBA for the 2026-27 season, after not being ranked in last year’s ranking.

Brooks’ role as a culture-changer last season was noted after a 2025-26 season where the Suns posted a nine-win improvement from where they were at the season before and making the playoffs after missing out in 2024-25.

This turnaround happened despite the team trading Kevin Durant, a 12-time All-NBA selection (11-time at the time of the trade) before the 2025-26 season for a package that included Brooks.

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Brooks played the most games (56) out of the five players acquired in the seven-team trade by the Suns: He, guard Jalen Green, eventual 2025 NBA Draft selection Khaman Maluach, eventual 2025 NBA Draft selection Koby Brea and guard Daeqwon Plowden (who was waived by Phoenix before the season). Brooks averaged a steal per game in the process with 20.2 points per game on 43.5/34.4/84.2 shooting splits.

ESPN noted that Brooks did not only help a major turnaround in Phoenix, but also a 19-win turnaround during his first season in Houston. They even added that “Brooks ranked in the top 10 in made 2-point jumpers last season, according to GeniusIQ.” Brooks fit in with the Suns’ first-year head coach Jordan Ott’s offensive system last season, which does not discourage players from taking midrange shots, unlike their previous head coach Mike Budenholzer’s system.

The other two of the Suns’ top three players (Devin Booker and Green) have even higher two-point shooting percentages than Brooks’ 49.2%, paving the way for ESPN to potentially list them in the top 50 once released.