Lakers: Patrick Beverley Says That Russell Westbrook Severely Damaged His Career

One comment from Russ hurt Beverley to the point where he has still yet to forget about it three years later.

Let this be a reminder that professional athletes don't often let go of grudges. And the fierce competitors that they are, that makes all of the sense in the world. 

Patrick Beverley is not one of the guys looking to support Russell Westbrook during this tough time. Players and executives across the league have voiced their concern for him and his family after fans started to verbally go after them.

But Beverley is talking about some things that happened back in 2019 when Westbrook said he had tricked people into thinking he knew what he was doing. Beverley sounded off about that this week when talking about Russ' struggles. 

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.’

The Timberwolves veteran went on to say that those comments from Russ damaged his career. He had to fight every game as opposing teams started to target him on defense. 

“He damaged my career. Coaching staffs and players, fans, they looked at me way different. They looked at me like, ‘You know what, he don’t play defense. He just yells and run around,’ and held onto that, and some people still do.”

Who doesnt love a good old fashioned NBA beef? It's alive and well.