Patrick Beverley Calls Out Lakers Fans in Wild Rant

The one-time former Laker made an interesting point in a fresh episode of his podcast.

Feb 4, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Patrick Beverley (21) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans guard Trey Murphy III (25) during the second half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

One-time Lost Angeles Lakers point guard Patrick Beverley, now playing abroad with Israeli League club Hapoel Tel Aviv, recently weighed in on his old club's latest trade, a deal that shipped out the expiring $18.7 million contract of veteran piont guard, second-year forward Maxwell Lewis, and three second round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for 3-and-D wing Dorian Finney-Smith and shooting guard Shake Milton.

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During a new installment of his very entertaining Barstool Sports show "The Pat Bev Podcast With Rone," the three-time All-Defensive Teamer told cohost Adam "Rone" Ferrone why Lakers fans' intense feelings about Los Angeles personnel can sometimes cost the club's front office in team-building talks.

Fans can cause a players value to drop! pic.twitter.com/GEgZJO98e0

— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) January 2, 2025

"The Laker fans, the real ones, they know basketball, 'cause they've seen it a lot, they've been through it a lot. What they don't understand is their effect on making their own team better," Beverley told Ferrone.

The 6-foot-2 point guard was flipped to the Lakers from Utah Jazz during the 2022 offseason. He suited up for just 45 games for Los Angeles, playing out of position as the team's starting shooting guard, while logging averages of 6.4 points on .402/.348/.780 shooting splits, 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.6 blocks in 26.9 minutes a night. L.A. eventually dumped Beverley's salary to the Orlando Magic as part of a four-team trade with the L.A. Clippers and Denver Nuggets. He negotiated a buyout with Orlando, and eventually inked a rest-of-season deal with his hometown Chicago Bulls.

“They talk so bad about their players that they actually decrease their value. So now, when a trade comes, ain’t nobody just giving you s---," Beverley claimed. "No one’s trying to help the Los Angeles Lakers. We know you guys want this guy—he’s a second-rounder for every other team, but to the Lakers, he’s two first rounds. But when you have a fan base, a guy shoots bad, and they crush guys, they decrease their value.”

A counter-argument to that could be found in the very nature of L.A.'s trade with Brooklyn. The Lakers saved money and got the best player in the deal, while adding two helpful role players in exchange for a single, very inconsistent one (Lewis was not a part of head coach JJ Redick's rotation). Finney-Smith was a fairly coveted asset for Brooklyn, and there had been rumors the Memphis Grizzlies were negotiating to trade a top-15 or top-17-protected first round pick in exchange for his services.

So the fact that Los Angeles got him and Milton — who just played 16:19 off the bench in L.A.'s narrow 114-106 win Thursday against the Portland Trail Blazers, and is clearly already a valued new contributor — without surrendering any of their movable first round picks sure seems like the Lakers got what they wanted, for around the price they wanted.

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