Updated March 6, 2026, 11:19 p.m. MT
- Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Scottsdale.
- The Suns are aware of the situation and are gathering more information but have no further comment.
- He was acquired from the Houston Rockets and is averaging a career-high 20.9 points this season.
Phoenix Suns guard Collin Gillespie said Dillon Brooks apologized to the team after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence March 6.
“We woke up to it this morning,” Gillespie said after Phoenix’s 118-116 win Friday over the New Orleans Pelicans before a sellout crowd of 17,071 at Mortgage Matchup Center.
“Just hate to see it for him, but he’s human. We’re all humans. We’re not above anybody else. We all make mistakes. He knows that. He owned it,” Gillespie said. “He apologized to the team, but we got his back. Human beings make mistakes, we all make mistakes. Learn from it. He’s just in the public eye more than any other regular human being. That stuff goes on every day and you just don’t hear about it from other people because it’s not ‘Dillon Brooks’ per se.”
Brooks was in attendance for Friday’s game as he remains out with a fractured left hand.
“It doesn’t make it right,” Gillespie continued. “We’re just happy that he’s OK. Nobody else was hurt. He’ll learn from it. He’s a grown man, an adult. We’re just happy that he’s OK and everybody else was fine.”
Suns guard Grayson Allen said before Friday’s game that Brooks felt “really bad” about the situation..
“I know he feels really bad about it,” said Allen, who was teammates with Brooks in Memphis. “I’m sure whenever he feels like he needs to say something, he’ll say something, but we’re still focusing on what we can do on the court with him out. We want to get him back and hold it down in the meantime.”
Suns coach Jordan Ott opened his pregame press conference on March 6 addressing the veteran forward being arrested.
“We’re going to continue to defer to the statement,” Ott said at Mortgage Matchup Center. “My focus here is on a back-to-back. Obviously didn’t play great last night.”
The team issued a statement on Brooks, 30, who was arrested in Scottsdale early Friday.
“We are aware of the situation involving Dillon Brooks and are gathering more information. We have no further comment at this time.”
When asked about possible disciplinary action with Brooks, Ott again deferred to the team’s statement.
“We’ll just stick to that statement,” Ott said. “If we hear anything else, or move anything else, sure you’ll be the first to hear about it.”
After the game, Ott talked about Brooks’ presence at the game.
“We just like having him around,” Ott said. “He’s like another injured player. They’re always around. We love their presence, we love their energy. We’ve talked a lot about that, even to our group when they’re out. We love to have them involved. This is our group. Love our group. We find energy within ourselves and from each other.”
Gillespie said he didn’t think the arrest was “a distraction per se” for the team.
“He was here, he shows up, he works out in the morning,” Gillespie said. “Got his work in. As soon as I saw him, I wasn’t able to talk to him. So as soon as I saw him, checked on him, made sure he was alright. He said he was good. It’s stuff that happens, man. We’re all human beings, we make mistakes.”
Brooks has been a major reason for the Suns’ success so far this season. But he missed a sixth straight game on Friday with the injury.
Brooks attended Thursday’s game and Friday’s game wearing a black cast on his hand. The Suns announced Feb. 24 that Brooks’ broken hand will be re-evaluated in four to six weeks.
The Suns acquired Brooks from the Houston Rockets in the Kevin Durant trade before the 2025 NBA Draft. He’s averaging a career-high 20.9 points in 50 games this season.
Brooks has been a catalyst for the Suns in helping establish a culture playing hard, aggressive, physical and playing defense.
With Friday’s victory, Phoenix matched its win total of a season ago with its Big 3 of Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Durant.
Brooks has been a major reason the Suns are having an unexpected turnaround season, but now finds himself in a situation that has led to an arrest.
According to Sgt. Allison Sempsis of the Scottsdale Police Department, Brooks was stopped for unstated traffic violations around 1 a.m. March 6 on Scottsdale Road, just south of Thunderbird Road.
Brooks was arrested at 1:33 a.m. on suspicion of driving under the influence/impaired to the slightest degree and DUI-drugs and/or metabolite, Sempsis wrote in an email to The Republic.
. He was taken to Scottsdale City Jail, where he was booked and released around 3:30 a.m., Sempsis said.
The city prosecutor’s office will ultimately decide if charges are filed.
The Suns are seventh in the Western Conference, just two games behind the Los Angeles Lakers (38-25) for the sixth seed.
The top six teams make the playoffs in each conference, while teams seven through 10 battle in the play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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