When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Patrick Beverley in a trade over the offseason, it immediately drew eyebrows from around the league considering his dust ups with Russell Westbrook.
The two guards have had their fair share of on-court mix-ups in the past, especially after Beverley injured Westbrook in the 2013 playoffs. In fact, Beverley drew so much hatred from fans that he received death threats over the incident.
However, since becoming teammates, Beverley and Westbrook have shown no ill will toward each other and the former even said that they’ve become good friends. In an appearance on ‘Cold As Balls’ with Kevin Hart, Beverley revealed how they began to move past their differences:
“So me and Russ…people don’t know me and Russ have the same strength and conditioning guy. I’ll come in to workout 6:15, Russ is already there. We see him like, ‘Is this the time to get his -expletive-?’ Six o’clock in the morning ain’t nobody here, is this the time?” So it went from that to a head nod.”
After getting to know each other at their workouts, Beverley explained that he has been able to reach Westbrook in ways that other players can’t due to their personalities:
“I could tell him things other people can’t. And that’s the beauty of when you got two guys, who talk two rams. If you only got two rams, you could only understand things from the other ram. So I’m able to tell him -expletive- that no one else can relate to him on.”
It’s an interesting dynamic that seems to work for the guards, though that hasn’t necessarily translated into wins as the Lakers sit near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Westbrook has looked much better since moving to the bench, but Beverley has looked like a shell of himself in the starting lineup.
The obvious caveat is that Los Angeles is missing Anthony Davis who remains sidelined with a stress injury, so players like Beverley and Westbrook need to play at a much higher level to make up for his loss.
Patrick Beverley calls for Lakers to be collectively better on defense without Anthony Davis
Defensively speaking, the Lakers have been a train wreck without Davis on the floor. For example, in their loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles gave up 51 points in the third quarter.
Following that performance, Beverley said he thinks he and the rest of the team need to be better as long as Davis remains out.
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