Amid the Los Angeles Lakers' defensive woes, Lakers fans have been fantasizing about a Dillon Brooks trade. Indeed, Brooks' gritty mentality on defense could do much to cure the Lake Show of its lackadaisical defensive attitude, a critical issue that starts and ends with Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
Despite his ever-annoying energy on the court (or perhaps because of it), Brooks wins everywhere he goes. He's been a big part of the Phoenix Suns' winning identity this season, and Lakers fans want that difference-making special sauce in purple and gold.
The problem for the Lakers is that they don't have a ton of appealing assets to theoretically offer the Suns for Brooks. An emerging idea that LA should trade Austin Reaves for Brooks is ridiculous for a few reasons.
Lakers would be foolish to give up Austin Reaves in a Dillon Brooks trade
Boogie Cousins would trade Austin Reaves for Dillon Brooks "in a heartbeat" 🤯
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 5, 2026
"He's a culture changer. He's a proven winner... Brooks fits exactly what the Lakers need right now. ... why wouldn't you do it?"@MichelleDBeadle | @boogiecousins | @ChandlerParsons | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/xaR6ETUfsF
During a segment for Run It Back on Monday, former NBA center DeMarcus Cousins claimed that he'd trade Reaves for Brooks "in a heartbeat" if he were running the Lakers. Cousins' fellow analyst Chandler Parsons told Boogie that he was out of his mind for such an idea.
Even if the Lakers did entertain a Brooks-Reaves idea (Lou Williams made a decent argument for doing so), there would still be obvious barriers to getting the deal done.
Due to Brooks and Reaves' respective salaries, Los Angeles would actually have to include another player alongside Reaves to make the money work in a two-team trade. A straight-up swap isn't possible, but a Reaves and Maxi Kleber package for Brooks is.
In this scenario, the Lakers would demand a ton of draft capital from the Suns to turn this trade into something resembling a fair deal. This would include a first-round pick or two, which Phoenix would be highly against parting with while continuing to re-tool around Devin Booker.
Ultimately, there's not enough common ground for a Brooks-Reaves trade to work.
For Rob Pelinka to be able to sleep at night, he'd have to fleece Phoenix of draft capital, which the Suns aren't interested in allowing. If Pelinka tried to snag Brooks without including Reaves (a Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht package works financially), Phoenix would hang up the phone.
A Rui-Jake LaRavia package also works for Brooks, but this feels like a bad trade for both teams. The Suns would still feel like they are getting a weak return for Brooks, and the Lakers would be losing someone in LaRavia who is quickly becoming an integral part of their core.
Unless the Suns' front office is far more incompetent than anyone realizes, Brooks isn't going to the Lakers. Pelinka would be wise to pursue alternate trade ideas to improve the Lake Show defense before February 5.