Trae Young climbs NBA Most Improved Player Ladder

Few teams in the NBA have been hotter over the last four weeks than the upstart Memphis Grizzlies, who have staked a claim to the eighth spot in the Western Conference in a season that was expected to be sacrificed to the rebuilding deities.

And no Grizzly has been hotter over that four-week stretch than third-year wing Dillon Brooks, who is setting himself up for a very nice payday when his contract expires at the end of this season.

Brooks started 74 games and played in all 82 as a rookie in 2017-18, but last season was demolished by injuries — a knee sprain that sidelined him for a big chunk of the early part of the season and was then lost for the season in early January after tearing a ligament in his right big toe.

Memphis is 11-3 over the last four weeks, a period during which the Grizzlies won by 26 against the Clippers in LA and posted a double-digit win at home over the Rockets. And Brooks led the charge.

Over the last 14 games, Brooks averaged a team-high 20.9 points to go with 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 29.7 minutes per game, shooting 45.9 percent overall and canning a red-hot 47.3 percent on 6.5 3-point attempts a game. For the season, Brooks is at 16.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 28.3 minutes nightly, with a shooting slash line of .423/.400/.842.

Brooks matched his season-high with 31 points in a loss at home to the Pelicans on Jan. 20 and had a career-long streak of four consecutive games with at least 20 points come to an end Friday night when the Grizzlies lost at New Orleans.