"That's The One Bear You Can't Poke": Skip Bayless Criticizes Dillon Brooks For Trash-Talking Kevin Durant

Skip Bayless has a long history of criticizing Kevin Durant. To be fair, many other NBA players could have taken Durant’s place in that sentence, but that’s besides the point.

Despite Bayless giving KD the business for several years, calling him things like “sour,” “so awful,” and “mentally semi-retired,” the veteran commentator knows greatness when he sees it. And if Bayless sees another player who doesn’t see that, Bayless is sure to call them out.

Appearing on “Gil’s Arena” this week, Bayless took aim at Phoenix Suns enforcer Dillon Brooks, who decided to taunt his former teammate Durant when the Suns hosted the Houston Rockets on Tuesday. According to Bayless, Brooks picked the wrong guy to mess with.

“That was a classic case of why Dillon Brooks is more trouble than he’s worth,” Bayless said. “That, there, is why he’s no longer in Memphis, and no longer in Houston, and probably next year, he will be somewhere else.”

Bayless pointed out that, right before Brooks ramped up his trash talk with Durant, the Suns were in firm control of the game and the former MVP was struggling to get a bucket. “You got him right where you want him. Until Dillon Brooks starts poking the bear. But that’s the one bear you can’t poke,” Bayless added.

Phoenix had a 37-21 lead at the end of the first quarter, but it was downhill from there as Durant and his teammates turned the tables around, kept the Rockets at bay, and kicked things into overdrive in the final 12 minutes of play. Houston won 119-105, their seventh consecutive victory, and Durant finished with 24 points on 5-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc.

As for Brooks, he coughed up just 10 points on a measly 25.0% shooting clip. In the past, he has successfully psyched out his opponents, messing up their production by toying with their minds. Bayless is right, though, when he says that Brooks was basically wasting his time when he decided to engage Easy Money Sniper in psychological warfare.

“Congratulations, Dillon,” Bayless sarcastically commented. “You’ve lost the game for your team at home.”