One recent Los Angeles Lakers playoff foe is banging his chest in delight after medaling for his country after beating their North American rivals for the bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup tournament.

Houston Rockets forward and Canadian native Dillon Brooks is celebrating his final game at the international tournament with an odd parallel to a purple and gold legend after defeating the Americans in an exciting third-place game to close the international competition.

As absurd as it is to compare an international bronze medal to an NBA title or even Finals MVP, Brooks is just the type of maniac to do so after naively challenging LeBron James in the 2023 NBA playoffs while still with the Grizzlies.

His actions, which cost Memphis a victory despite having a better seed in the series, along with Ja Morant’s hand injury, led to a six-game series victory for LA and his own departure from the team under any circumstances.

As impressive as Brooks’ performance against the Americans was in partial retaliation for how his Grizzlies stint ended, both Brooks and Shai Gilgeous Alexander had some consolation for a poor finish against a Serbian club missing Nikola Jokic.

With a tournament finals spot on the line, the Canadians, like Team USA, were unable to defeat their opponent.

The Americans’ demise was caused by a loss to the eventual champions in Germany, but a failure to medal against a Canadian squad missing Jamal Murray has to be disheartening for squad USA.

With worries regarding squad cohesion and a lack of regular star quality, Team USA’s lackluster end against its northern rivals may indicate huge changes for the 2024 Olympics.