The long-term result was ultimately favorable to Grizzlies: Houston received 2018 second-round pick (least favorable of Grizzlies, Heat, Hornets picks) (#46-De'Anthony Melton) from Memphis Grizzlies for rights to Dillon Brooks.
Houston selected Dillon Brooks with the No. 45 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, then traded his draft rights to Memphis for a future second-round pick. The Grizzlies were buying a four-year Oregon wing who had just been named Pac-12 Player of the Year, and the price was modest. Brooks immediately made the roster and started 74 games as a rookie, turning a draft-night rights purchase into an everyday player instead of a developmental lottery ticket.
Brooks stayed with the Grizzlies through the 2022-23 season and became one of their most-used perimeter defenders. He appeared in 345 regular-season games for Memphis across six seasons, started the large majority of them and averaged double figures in scoring in five straight seasons after his rookie year. His final Memphis season ended with All-Defensive Second Team honors. The relationship eventually ran its course, but the original trade had already produced years of starting minutes and playoff defense.
The future second conveyed in 2018 at No. 46, where Houston selected De'Anthony Melton. Melton became a productive NBA guard, but none of that production came for the Rockets. Before his rookie season, Houston packaged Melton with Ryan Anderson in a trade to Phoenix for Marquese Chriss and Brandon Knight. The pick therefore had legitimate transaction value, yet the Rockets never received the long-term on-court benefit that Melton later provided elsewhere.
Both sides turned a second-round asset into something useful, but Memphis captured far more of the basketball value. Brooks became a six-year rotation fixture and defensive starter for a playoff team. Houston used Melton before he played a regular-season game for the franchise, and the return from the Phoenix deal did not approach Brooks' Memphis tenure. The canonical A for the Grizzlies and D for the Rockets reflects the durability gap rather than the simple fact that both original assets became NBA players.
Grizzlies Win — Memphis A, Houston D. Memphis acquired Dillon Brooks' draft rights for a future second and received six seasons, 345 regular-season games and an All-Defensive Second Team selection from him. Houston's pick became De'Anthony Melton at No. 46 in 2018, but the Rockets traded Melton to Phoenix before he played a regular-season game for them. Houston did recover trade value through that package, yet Memphis received the far stronger direct basketball return from the original exchange.