Former NBA player Patrick Beverley has had more than his fair share of feuds over the years, and he’s now got into it with Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade. Beverley and Wade fired shots at each other on Friday, as the latter took offense to comments made by the former on his podcast last week.
In the first episode of the Pat Bev Show, Beverley justified his ranking of James Harden as the third greatest shooting guard of all time. The 37-year-old claimed Harden is a better player than Wade and that it’s not even close.
“I eff with D-Wade, that’s the homie,” Beverley said. “… You’re talking about a player that can score, a player that can get to the free-throw line, a player that can pass it out of pick-and-roll. A lot of people were going under on D-Wade pick-and-rolls. I ain’t gon’ front, you feel me? A lot of people were letting D-Wade have that.
“Yes, does D-Wade have a clutch gene?” Beverley continued. “You’re absolutely right. Yes, at times, have we seen D-Wade be more clutcher than James Harden? Yes, we have. But when we talk about a better player, like a better player, James Harden is a better player than Dwyane Wade. And people get it confused ’cause they think about D-Wade won a championship and you can’t take that away, but a championship is a team thing. That’s a team award.
“I’m talking about individual award,” Beverley added. “Who is a better player. And individually, you have to go with James Harden. No disrespect to [Allen Iverson] and Dwyane Wade, I don’t even think it’s close. I think James Harden really might be probably one of the best scorers this game has ever seen. I think we need to applaud that.”
While Beverley had made it clear then that he loves Wade, a fellow Chicago native, these comments did not go down well. The 44-year-old went off on the journeyman guard on the latest episode of The Check-in with Dwyane Wade on the WY Network.
“I don’t understand how you can have a conversation about me and state facts when you’re not as good as me,” Wade said. “… Pat Bev came out and just talked about me and James [Harden]. Another conversation with me and James.
“Pat just came out definitively,” Wade stated. “He was definitive, ‘James Harden is better than Dwyane Wade.’… He was very definitive in his answer, and I was just sitting there like, ‘Okay, Pat, where’s your facts to say that someone is better?’ Or just come out and say, ‘What I personally like or the style of play that I like to see is X, Y, and Z.’
“Don’t you ever fix your mouth to say nobody is better than me when you wasn’t better than me,” Wade continued. “You can’t do that. You talking about a better player; you’re talking about every aspect of the game of basketball. You know how good I was in a lot of aspects of the game?… It’s funny too when you see players who talk about your game like you experienced a portion of my game.
“But when I was winning championship, you weren’t even around,” Wade added. “You don’t know who I am. You didn’t get to feel the wrath of me up young. Now my career was hit by injuries, and I still had a top 75 career, and I came in the NBA injured. You don’t know the wrath of me as a player, you know, a portion, and you still couldn’t f*** with me then.”
Wade, who was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, stated Beverley had an incredible career, but he doesn’t want him talking about players who were better than he was. As you’d imagine, the polarizing guard didn’t agree with this point of view. Beverley fired a shot at Wade on X in response.
“Damn Flash Rent-Free, Truth is the Truth. And u was WRONG, I shoot the 3 way better than you. Our career 3-point percentages weren’t even close. D Wade shot a measly 29.3 from 3. Pat Bev shot 37.1. 7-3 record against you also LuvGang.”
The numbers that Beverley brought up are indeed true. Wade, who won three titles, a Finals MVP, and a scoring title, was still the far better player, though, and it will be interesting to see if he responds to this latest jab.
