Getty Patrick Beverley of the Philadelphia 76ers
The Boston Celtics had Patrick Beverley on their radar before he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports named them as a potential suitor on June 30 before Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report confirmed Beverley was signing with the Sixers.
Beverley even confirmed them as a suitor on his podcast, “The Pat Bev Podcast With Rone,” but added that former Celtics coach Doc Rivers urged him to sign with the Sixers.
“I hit Doc. ‘I might go to Philly. Obviously, you was there. How’d you like the situation?’ Now this is a Hall of Fame coach that just got fired, and his response, exact words, ‘I love Philadelphia for you. They need you. You will be great with Joel (Embiid). James (Harden), he respects you. You will be great with him. If I had you last season, we would have been a different team.’”
Beverley added that while he planned to talk to the Celtics, it was Rivers’ encouragement that sold him on the Sixers.
“Once Doc gave me the green, I call my agent back with my agent like, ‘Man, give me the end of the day. I’m gonna talk to some more teams, you feel me? I’m gonna talk to Boston. I’m gonna talk to Washington’, but when Doc gave me the green, I…trust Doc.”
“If I had you last season we would have been a different team.” -Doc Rivers
Rivers coached the Celtics from 2004 to 2013 and coached Beverley on the Los Angeles Clippers from 2017 to 2020. Rivers was fired by the Sixers two days after they lost to the Celtics in the 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Celtics Offered Patrick Beverley More Money
According to Beverley himself, the Celtics had more money on the table to offer than the Sixers did, but they asked him to wait. However, because Beverley did not want to do that, among other things, he took the Sixers’ offer.
“I talked to representatives of mine. It might be Philly. It might be Boston. It might be Washington. Imma have a little bit more money in Boston or Washington. Let’s wait on it. Let’s wait on it. I tell my agent, ‘F*** it. Pull the trigger. I ain’t gonna wait.’ I like Nick Nurse. Obviously, I took a paycut, but it’s never been about the money. You feel me? It’s always about the basketball.”
Neither players nor teams like being asked to wait after free agency begins because that can lead to other offers and options, respectively, drying up as time passes. It’s likely the Celtics asked Beverley to wait because they wanted to see how the situations with Grant Williams and Jaylen Brown would shake out first.
Grant Williams Called ‘First Domino’ in Free Agency
With Williams’ restricted free agency and Brown’s upcoming extension, many have wondered why the Celtics haven’t done anything yet. The Athletic’s Jared Weiss revealed on July 4 that the Celtics are first looking at resolving Williams’ free agency.
“While the Jaylen Brown extension is the most important piece of business, league and team sources told The Athletic the first domino they expect to fall will be Grant Williams’ restricted free agency,” Weiss wrote.
Weiss added that Williams has quite a few suitors despite how much money has already been spent during the free agency period.
“Though most of the league’s cap space has dried up at this point, the expectation with Williams has always been that a sign-and-trade or midlevel exception (MLE) would be the likely outcome. Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, New York, and Washington are all still in the mix, according to league sources, with Williams eligible to sign an offer sheet on July 6.”