Dillon Brooks Reveals He Tried to Pinch Kawhi During Game, Clippers Star Never Reacted to Trash-Talk

Dillon Brooks admitted in an article for The Players' Tribune that "pretty much from the jump, I was a s--t-talker."

But while he's been able to get under the skin of many players during his basketball journey, he couldn't quite crack Kawhi Leonard.

"Being my size, and playing the role I do, I had to look for every little edge. Over the years, I kind of developed it into a science. I remember when I was on the Grizzlies, I had little dossiers on everybody. I knew what pissed you off," he wrote. "Before the refs really knew me, everything was working. I had everybody tweaked out. Obviously, now the refs got me under the microscope, so I gotta be really subtle with it, but back then, I was an artist. The only guy that never reacted was Kawhi. He was my white whale. Nothing ever worked. He paid it no mind. I think I tried pinching Kawhi one time, for real. He'd just look at you, like, 'Play basketball, bro.' I'd be thinking, 'Alright, damn. You might be right. What's the point?'" 

Leonard's stoic personality—and perhaps his time playing with Tim Duncan, another superstar seemingly immune to trash talk—makes him a tough mark for pot-stirrers like Brooks.

As for the NBA's resident troll, he's having his best season, averaging 20.4 points for the upstart Phoenix Suns. At 43-35, the Suns are likely to be the top seed in the Play-In Tournament, exceeding external expectations.