Ever since 2019, Patrick Beverley has had beef with Russell Westbrook. This was after Westbrook told the media that Beverley was a fraud and not very good at defending. At the time, Beverley was seen as one of the best defenders in the entire league, but once Westbrook made those comments, Beverley became a meme across the league. Teams started to gang up on Beverley, and many players tried to make an example out of him.
Now, the shoe is on the other foot as Westbrook has been awful this season. During an episode of The Old Man And The Three, Beverley spoke about this shift in power, and how he is loving every second of it. Simply put, Beverley feels like Russ ruined his reputation, and he likes seeing Westbrook struggle.
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“I call that perfect timing, divine timing,” Beverley said. “You know people looked at me differently? People around the NBA, coaches, players, like after that people were just taking the ball just going at me. I’m like, ‘What the f—?’ All because of what one person said, and that’s how the media is. If one person says one thing, that’s how they take it. And they take it just for that. People really looked at it like, ‘Yeah, maybe this motherf—er don’t play defense. The only thing he does is run around.’ So, obviously, I had one bad game. ‘Oh Russ was right. I knew this motherf—–; the only thing he did is run around and stuff like that.’ You know, it’s no fun when the rabbit gots the gun now.”
With Russ having a bad season, very few people are actually thinking about Beverley’s reputation right now. Instead, the conversation is on how the Lakers can be better. Regardless, this whole debacle has Beverley feeling good, which is all that truly matters in his eyes.
[Via]