How many bears did you poke, dude?

Dillon Brooks is told to hit the bricks. PLUS: The Knicks beat a shorthanded Heat team by the skin of their teeth and Anthony Davis dominates the champs.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Blind Leading the Blind; Pieter Bruegel the Elder; 1568

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Em-V-P

As expected, Joel Embiid won his first NBA MVP. He picked up 73% of the first-place votes in the end, with a solid victory over Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo (who was closer to beating Jokic for second place than I anticipated). Jayson Tatum finished a distant fourth and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished an even more distant fifth.

The Sixers gathered in a hotel ballroom in Boston to watch the announcement live on TNT. This is beautiful. Caring is cool!

Truly an amazing narrative arc so far for Embiid through his life and career. He sat out two years to start his NBA career and arrived on a roster literally built to lose. A few years later, he’s not just a perennial MVP candidate … but an actual MVP. There’s more story here for him, but what a mountain he’s climbed already. An all-timer.

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In Like a Lion, Out Like a Sacrificial Lamb

The eventful on-court actions of the past half-week have delayed any sort of basketball eulogy for the 2022-23 Memphis Grizzlies here at the Good Morning It’s Basketball Complex. But it was fairly clear that the Grizzlies were probably going to pivot away from Dillon Brooks, who will be a free agent.

Fairly clear, indeed.

The Memphis Grizzlies have informed pending unrestricted free agent Dillon Brooks that he will not be brought back under any circumstances, league sources tell The Athletic.

After his tumultuous end to the season, Brooks was told about the Grizzlies’ decision to move on in exit meetings with team officials in recent days, those sources said. Memphis and Brooks discussed in exit meetings that it’s best for both sides to have a fresh start, sources added.

The tone of the way The Athletic’s Shams Charania phrased this — that Brooks will not be brought back “under any circumstances” earned a lot of attention and criticism, as if the Grizzlies are pouring salt in the wound of Brooks’ disastrous auto-immolation this season. It’s quite possible, though, that Brooks’ camp or a third party (like another Grizzly player’s agent) is who let this slip into the press. I wouldn’t assume that the Memphis front office would want such definitive statements out there if only to not tip their hand in free agency and the trade market. If there were a belief the Grizzlies could bring Brooks back, the Grizzlies moving aggressively on replacements could catch competitors off their guards. Though again, it seemed pretty obvious that the Grizzlies needed to move on.

ESPN confirmed the news, as well. There’s a loosely sourced report going around that Brooks is seeking $25 million per year in a new contract, which (if true) means that his camp is delusional about his market value given his offensive performance and the extra drama that comes with his plus (but sub-elite) wing defense.

I will say that the Grizzlies’ issues are far less about Brooks’ (and to a lesser but relevant extent Ja Morant’s) penchant for trash talk and much more about the team’s struggles to score in the halfcourt and stay healthy.