Patrick Beverley Calls Out His Haters Who Say He Just Runs Around On Defense

Patrick Beverley shared his impressive stats on defense in this 2023-24 season.

5 Min Read

Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Beverley never shies away from speaking his mind, so when he saw NBA World on X post some excellent defensive stats of his, he took the opportunity to call out his haters.

“They say I be running around.”

Whatever you may think of Beverley and all of his antics, you can’t deny he is actually a pretty good defender. The stats shown there do back him up as well and he certainly isn’t someone who players relish going up against. 

Beverley has not gotten significant minutes with the Philadelphia 76ers this season, however, as he is averaging just 16.3 minutes per game. As a result, he is only putting up 2.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game, but he is still managing to have an impact in his short time on the court.


The Origin Of This Narrative Surrounding Patrick Beverley

What is interesting of course, is that the one who had initially made that comment was his rival turned friend Russell Westbrook in 2019. After a game between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers, Westbrook was asked about the matchup between Beverley and James Harden, and he then delivered the now-famous line.

“Pat Bev trick y’all, man, like he playing defense,” Westbrook said. “He don’t guard nobody, man. He just running around, doing nothing.”

(starts at 1:38 mark):

Ever since Westbrook said it, Beverley’s defense hasn’t quite been held in the same breath as it once was. Considering the beef between these two back then, Westbrook’s comments should have been taken with a grain of salt.

Is Beverley one of the best defenders in the league? No, but he deserves respect for his prowess on that end of the floor. The 35-year-old has made the NBA All-Defensive Second Team twice (2014, 2020) and the Third Team once (2017).


Patrick Beverley And Russell Westbrook Squashed Their Beef

The Beverley-Westbrook beef began during the 2013 playoffs when Beverley delivered what many believed was a cheap shot on Westbrook. It led to Russ suffering a slight tear on his right meniscus and it kept it out for those playoffs.

The knee would also continue to bother him for years and it led to the two of them jawing at each other fairly often. One such incident was this one where Westbrook claimed Beverley just runs around on defense.

After going at each other for so many years, though, the two buried the hatchet during their time as teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers. In fact, they got so close that Beverley and Westbrook even had Christmas dinner together last year. The former now also backs the latter in public, with Beverley defending Westbrook after the Lakers traded him.

“To see how Russ is every game day, the first person in the locker room. Every single game. I’m on the first bus, LeBron is on the first bus too. There’s some vets in the league that take the third bus, we have 3 buses. I’m on first bus, ‘Bron on first bus, AD on first bus. We get to the locker room, Russ is there. Dressed, fully worked out already. Headphones on, locked in.”

“That’s my dawg. Lifetime dawg. Like, some real s**t… Lot of dinners just us together. We caught a real brother vibe. It was some real s**t, though. I didn’t know he knew the game of basketball the way he know the game. He know the game in and out. It’s a different perspective.”

Beverley also stated that Westbrook does not deserve the “Westbrick” nickname and has been very complimentary of him. If someone had told you that things would pan out like this after those comments in 2019, you’d have thought they were crazy.

We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.

Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.

Newsletter

Stay up to date with our newsletter on the latest news, trends, ranking lists, and evergreen articles

Follow on Google News

Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We appreciate your support.

Share This Article
Follow:
Gautam Varier is a staff writer and columnist for Fadeaway World from Mumbai, India. He graduated from Symbiosis International University with a Master of Business specializing in Sports Management in 2020. This educational achievement enables Gautam to apply sophisticated analytical techniques to his incisive coverage of basketball, blending business acumen with sports knowledge.Before joining Fadeaway World in 2022, Gautam honed his journalistic skills at Sportskeeda and SportsKPI, where he covered a range of sports topics with an emphasis on basketball. His passion for the sport was ignited after witnessing the high-octane offense of the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns. Among the Suns, Shawn Marion stood out to Gautam as an all-time underrated NBA player. Marion’s versatility as a defender and his rebounding prowess, despite being just 6’7”, impressed Gautam immensely. He admired Marion’s finishing ability at the rim and his shooting, despite an unconventional jump shot, believing that Marion’s skill set would have been even more appreciated in today’s NBA.This transformative experience not only deepened his love for basketball but also shaped his approach to sports writing, enabling him to connect with readers through vivid storytelling and insightful analysis.
Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *