It wasn’t a surprise because there had been a lot of speculation before it happened, but the Lakers recently traded for Patrick Beverly.
Although it wasn’t a surprise, it sent Twitter into a little of a frenzy because, one, they went from trying to get Kyrie to getting Pat Bev, who is the type of player they’ve needed, and because Russell Westbrook and Pat Bev have a lot of bad history.
It dates back to when Russ was trying to call a timeout, and Bev attempted to steal the ball and ran into Russ, which caused him to hurt his knee and miss the rest of the playoffs.
It’s been an ugly feud, and most think that since the Lakers traded for Bev, they will trade Russ sometime soon. That might not be the case.
According to reports, head coach Darvin Ham has already told them that he has plans to play them together, and Russ and Bev have reportedly been in contact with each other and are going to squash their beef.
Notorious pest Patrick Beverley’s reputation as an elite defender isn’t accurate, according to Russell Westbrook, who cited James Harden’s 47-point performance in the Rockets’ 102-93 victory Wednesday night over the Clippers as proof.
“Pat Bev trick y’all, man, like he playing defense,” Westbrook said. “He don’t guard nobody, man. It’s just running around, doing nothing. … All that commotion to get 47.”
Westbrook and Beverley have a long-running feud dating back to the Houston-Oklahoma City series in the first round of the 2013 playoffs. Westbrook suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee that required multiple surgeries after Beverley, then Harden’s backcourt mate for the Rockets, collided with Westbrook a split second after the Thunder called a timeout in Game 2.
Them squashing their beef isn’t surprising, but it is a little surprising that the Lakers would potentially go into the season with a Russ and Pat Bev experiment, but it could work.
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