Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook have a history. Back in the 2013 playoffs, Beverley collided with Westbrook’s knee going for a steal that resulted in Westbrook tearing his meniscus. Westbrook was bracing for a timeout when Beverley made the play. Classifying it as unnecessary, at best, is justified.
Years later, Westbrook famously downplayed what Beverley does on the defensive end of the floor, saying in a post-game interview, “Pat Bev trick y’all, man, like he playing defense. He don’t guard nobody, man. It’s just running around, doing nothing.” Earlier this season, Beverley tweeted that Westbrook was “The Real Magician” amid the former MVP’s struggles.
More recently, Beverley appeared on The Old Man & The Three Podcast, where he discussed the longstanding rivalry between them. Specifically, he hit on the fall-out of Westbrook’s “trick y’all” comment from 2019.
“People looked at me differently, people around the NBA: coaches, players. After that, people were just taking the ball, going at me,” he said. “I’m like, ‘What the f*ck?’ All because of what one person said.
“People really looked at it like, ‘Yeah, maybe this motherf*cker don’t play defense. Only thing he does is run around.”
Beverley also said people would use his poor outings as vindication for Westbrook’s sentiment and called his tweet last month a “forgiven, but not forgotten type of thing.”
“He damaged my career,” Beverley said. “Coaching staffs and players, fans, they looked at me way different. … Some people still do.”
