Over his 10-year career, Lakers guard Patrick Beverley has built a reputation for being an elite, hard-nosed defender.
Usually, it results in game-changing plays that can help give his team an edge. Occasionally, though, it can also come with threats of violence, which is exactly what happened to Bev during the 2013 playoffs.
As the 3x All-Defensive player revealed in a recent episode of his podcast, he had to have a police car outside his house in Houston after being involved in a play that injured then-OKC star, Russell Westbrook.
“I had a ball boy threaten to kill me,” Beverley said. “I go back to Houston. Kevin McHale goes, ‘Hey buddy, just watch out for the media. Story has it Westbrook’s out.’ … I don’t even know what happened, right? They made the big story. … I get to OKC the next game — police officers in front. 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. I’m looking. I go out in the morning for tea or coffee, like a Starbucks, police guys with me. They passing out papers with a young guy’s face on it, like this big. He threatened to kill. The s— was real.”
OKC Thunder Fans Were Very Protective of Russell Westbrook
Crazily enough, Beverley isn’t the only prominent NBA name to receive death threats from Thunder fans. FOX Sports analyst Skip Bayless revealed once got threats after criticizing Russell Westbrook on First Take.
“I poured over responses day and night. And guess what I started to see as we rolled towards those Finals? Death threats. From Thunder fans in my hometown of Oklahoma City. Real, live, hardcore death threats,” said Skip. “I thought legitimate death threats but I passed them on to ESPN security who came back to me ‘yep, legit. Need to be taken seriously.’ So as we were about to venture to Oklahoma City, my hometown, they had to hire me a bodyguard who wound up being an LA cop whose primary duty was to serve and protect the Chief of police when he went out in public. And he protected and served me in Oklahoma City, almost to a fault. But I’ll admit it, I was a little creeped out. A little anxious. I am going to my hometown where I grew up in Oklahoma City, ‘hail the conquering hero!’ and they want to kill me. I got messages like ‘if you dare step foot in this town it will be the last step you take.'”
The lesson here is not to mess with Thunder fans. Despite being the smallest market team in the entire NBA, they have a fanbase that is ruthless and extremely loyal. Guys like Patrick Beverley and Skip Bayless have found that out the hard way.
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