In the span of just a couple of years, Patrick Beverley has gone from Russell Westbrook’s sworn enemy to his biggest defender.
The new Philadephia 76ers guard Beverley appeared this week on Gilbert Arenas’s show “Gil’s Arena.” At one point, the conversation turned to Westbrook, Beverley’s ex-teammate on the L.A. Lakers, and Beverley offered a strong defense. Beverley said that Westbrook did not deserve to be called by the infamous “Westbrick” nickname and called for Westbrook to get his respect for his extensive career accomplishments.
“We not even talking [about how] he broke the record for triple-doubles off the bench [in] half a season,” said Beverley. “No one’s even talking about it. It’s the craziest thing in the world. The man has broke every [...] record … He shot 41, 40 percent from three [and] people call him ‘Westbrick.’ How? How?”
Here is the full clip (warning for colorful language).
Even as recently as 2022, those comments would be a total shock coming from Beverley, who had a bitter feud with Westbrook for nearly a decade. But the two made their peace last year after becoming teammates on the Lakers and were even having Christmas dinner together before long.
While Beverley was exaggerating Westbrook’s three-point shooting ability a bit there, Westbrook did manage to shoot a very respectable 35.6 percent from distance last season after joining the LA Clippers (which would have been a career high over an entire year). As for Beverley himself, who is now 35, it seems he is ready to end most (but certainly not all) of his old feuds.
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