As the visiting Chicago Bulls went about dismantling the Los Angeles Lakers during an afternoon Sunday showdown, Lakers-turned-Bulls guard Patrick Beverley made time for an in-game diss of former teammate LeBron James.
Beverley made a nifty little one-handed spin shot over James, then hit him (twice) with his signature "too small" gesture while retreating. He seemingly downplayed the moment after the fact, but the showmanship of the tease was clearly something he relished doing.
"I do it to everybody," Beverley said of the gesture. "We're not construction workers. We're not guys that have to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning. We're professional basketball players. It's all about having fun."
Since Beverley signed with Chicago (his hometown team) off the buyout market, the Bulls have gone 10-5 and look like a completely new club. Ayo Dosunmu and Alex Caruso had been the team's prior starting point guards this year while it waited and hoped that $20 million starter Lonzo Ball would recover from his knee surgery (he did not). Beverley is just a much, much better playmaker than either of those combo guards are, is a more willing and accurate three-point shooter, and has the point-of-attack defensive capabilities of Caruso to boot.
Per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, maximum-salaried Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine also raved about Beverley's ability to steer the club in a winning direction.
“Give credit to Pat for coming in here and giving us a jump of life, energy, a vocal leader," LaVine raved. "Give us credit for understanding the situation and going out there and playing desperate. If we keep playing like this, I think we’ll be OK.”
While the Bulls will face another former Pat Bev club, the Los Angeles Clippers, tonight at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers will have a rare two-day break between games, before a rematch against Chicago at the United Center on Wednesday.
More must-reads: