Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young candidly broke down how he feels about veteran defender Patrick Beverley in a video that he released to clarify his stance with the former Bucks guard.
Young, who generally restricts his talk to the court, could not hold back any punches and went at Beverley’s legacy, career, and how he advertises himself in the media.
“You played with some big-time players, my guy. You talk about winning and impacting winning—all these things… How about we name some of these guys: LeBron, Giannis, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ant-Man, and KAT. We’re not even gonna talk about how we celebrate a play-in win!” Young started his argument strongly.
“I win play-in games on the road and I’m ready to get to the playoffs. You win play-in games at home and you’re standing on the scores table acting like it’s a championship,” the Hawks star added.
He was visibly livid at Beverley’s comments that questioned his leadership and how his teammates feel about Young. So Young responded with receipts.
“You’ve had some great teammates over these years, who you’ve only been able to make the conference finals cause your impact was that strong! One time?” Young said sarcastically.
He also called out Beverley for being one of the most talented Clippers teams in recent history and still not making a deep run.
“James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Sweet Lemon Pepper Lou, and Dwight Howard. I can go on and on, them is just the Hall of Famers that I can just pop in the list right now, this is not the names of the guys that I know listened to you when they were around you, but the way they act is not the way you act, even from the young guys.” Young continued.
The former Clippers player sparked off a debate with a comment on a social media post, and then said that Hawks’ players and some of Young’s teammates don’t see him as the leader. In fact, some of them are of the view that he’s unfit to lead the team. So Young let Beverley know how he truly feels about him, and what he’s heard from others in the league.
“A guy who had just won MVP, who had just won the championship, I know he looked up to you as a rookie, but you saw what happened when he left, but we don’t even need to get into that.” Young insinuated but left the conversation without providing a name.
He clarified that this is not a shot at any of Beverley’s teammates. He was on some great teams, but those teams have really nothing to show for it. His impact has been questionable, according to Young.
“I know, from being in my shoes, I know how hard it is to win in this league. I know how much luck you have to have on your side to win at a high level and go play into June. Like you said. Cause you play in June every year, huh?… What was your real impact on winning?” Young added.
“I know you were labeled as a tough defender, a great defender, and the accolades say that you were. But I promise you, anytime you were on the court with me, I was never scared of you. I was never scared of Patty Bev.” Young concluded.
Even other superstars like Kevin Durant have voiced an issue with Beverley’s takes on his podcast. After retirement, a lot of NBA veterans have taken up media roles, opening their own podcasts in most cases. There’s a good side to having a podcast, and clearly, there’s also a side that can land you in trouble with the athletes.
