Suns owner gives definitive statement on Lakers trade target that will crush LA fans

Dillon Brooks is a tone-setter, a culture-builder, and exactly the type of player many believe would be perfect for the Los Angeles Lakers. The only problem is the people down in Arizona love him too. That includes Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia

The Lakers are in the market for a 3-and-D guy, that much is well-known to everyone. Brooks fits that mold, and then some. The problem is that the Suns wing is enjoying the best season of his career. Phoenix is reaping the benefits of that, overachieving their preseason expectations.

Brooks' impact has been so large on the Suns that when Run It Back on FanDuel TV posted a video discussing the idea of trading him to the Lakers, Ishbia went out of his way to shut down the conversation. The statement from the Suns owner was pretty firm too.

"Don't bother calling… Suns aren't interested. Dillon's not going anywhere," Ishbia responded to the post on Twitter/X.

Dillon Brooks trade buzz takes a hit after blunt message from Mat Ishbia

No player in the NBA is truly untouchable. Last year's Luka Doncic trade taught the basketball world exactly that. However, if Ishbia is going out of his way to respond to an aggregation account on Twitter/X, that is probably not a good sign for the Lakers' chances.

The desire to keep Brooks in Phoenix should be more than understandable. After being a bit of an afterthought in the Kevin Durant trade, with Jalen Green viewed as the main prize, the Canadian has played great basketball for the Suns this season.

Brooks is averaging a career-high 21.4 points per game in 2025-26, shooting 46.1 percent (also the best mark of his time in the NBA) from the field and 34.3 percent from beyond the arc. That adds up to a true shooting percentage of 56.8, which is — you guessed it — also a career best.

To go with that, Brooks is averaging 3.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. This is all while his relentless defense and overall shenanigans continue to get under the skin of his opponents.

They worked on LeBron James earlier this season. The Lakers forward was caught responding to Brooks after a solid dose of antics in an earlier matchup during the 2025 portion of this campaign.

LeBron might have even had some fun there. His comments after that matchup were not as agitated as one would expected.

"He's going to compete. I'm going to compete. We're going to get up in each other's face," James told Dave McMenamin and the other reporters. "Tried not to go borderline with it. I don't really take it there. But we just competed. And did that almost all the way to the end of the game."

There is no doubt Brooks could raise the energy and competitive levels in Los Angeles. Considering their lackluster defense, that would be highly desired. Unfortunately, those services are also highly unavailable, if the Suns owner is true to his word.