- Patrick Beverley’s collision with Russell Westbrook in 2013 led to a meniscus tear for the then-Thunder superstar
- Russell Westbrook had to get season-ending surgery and the Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t go far in the playoffs without him
- Patrick Beverley revealed he had to get police protection for his house after that incident
Patrick Beverley has been hated by plenty of fans throughout his NBA career, but perhaps no set has hated him as much as Thunder fans in 2013. After he tried to steal the ball and injured Russell Westbrook and ended his season, things got scary. He recently revealed an interesting detail from the aftermath on his podcast.
“The sh*t happened with me and Russ, right?” Beverley said. “Imagine Rone, I got police outside my house in Houston.”
"I hit [Patrick Beverley] but Pat got back up… When you go back and look at the actual play, everybody kept saying 'Pat dove at [Russell Westbrook's] knee intentionally' I'm like 'no he didn't, man.'"
—Kendrick Perkins
(via @PatBevPod) pic.twitter.com/a28JMtZUMG
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 15, 2023
Basketball is just a sport, but players like Patrick Beverley who get a reputation for being dirty have to deal with hate well beyond what constitutes normal fandom. Whether the play he made on Westbrook was dirty or not, it ended the Thunder man’s incredible streak of rarely missing games, and that was enough for fans to make death threats toward him.
Patrick Beverley Said A Ballboy Threatened To Kill Him After The Incident
The 2012-13 season was the first time that Patrick Beverley got an opportunity to play in the NBA after spending three seasons overseas. The 24-year-old was hungry to prove himself and did so by playing tenacious and irritating defense. The collision with Russell Westbrook was a bad look though, and he got more direct death threats after it happened too.
“I had a ball boy threaten to kill me over the Russell Westbrook injury,” Beverley said on his podcast. “I go back to Houston, it’s my first f**king year in the NBA, I don’t even know what the f**k is going on.
“They put a police car in front of my house in Houston. I get to the hotel, I’m on the floor by myself, police guy at the door. They passing out papers of a young guy’s face on it… He threatened to kill me. Sh*t was real.”
Things eventually blew over but Patrick Beverley never shook off the reputation of being a dirty player. Many fans hate him to this day. He has made it evident throughout his career since that fateful injury though, that every NBA team needs someone like Patrick Beverley to bring the energy and the determination to win.
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