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The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired Patrick Beverley from the Utah Jazz and one of the best players in NBA history likes the move.
Lakers icon Magic Johnson sent out two tweets on August 25th about Beverley and the five-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer sounded excited about the trade.
The Lakers traded Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to the Jazz for Beverley, who was acquired by Utah from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Rudy Gobert trade. The Chicago native will make $13 million next season in the final year of his contract.
Beverley appeared in 58 games for the Timberwolves last season and averaged 9.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists while shooting 40.6% from the field, 34.3% from beyond the arc and 72.2% from the free-throw line.
In his four seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, Beverley was a pest against the Lakers and cherished beating the purple and gold. The Arkansas product continued to troll Lakers star LeBron James even after he left the Clippers. During the Timberwolves’ 124-104 blowout of the Lakers on March 16th, Beverley flexed and yelled at James and tapped the King on the behind with Minnesota up 62-44 in the second quarter.
However, Beverley and James are friends and the veteran guard is looking forward to playing with the four-time champion.
Beverley Was Eager to Join Lakers
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on August 24th that Beverley was eager to join the Lakers, who missed the playoffs last season despite having James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. As a guest on the May 12th episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today,” Beverley said James was the one superstar he would play with if he could pick one.
“Bron. Easy. Top dog,” Beverley said.
Over the past five seasons, Beverley has held opponents to 41.9% shooting as the closest defender, second best among players defending at least 2,000 shots, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said Los Angeles is “thrilled” to have Beverley.
“We are thrilled to add Patrick Beverley’s toughness and competitive spirit to our team,” Pelinka said on August 25th, via Lakers.com. “We’re confident that Patrick’s ‘3-and-D’ style will fit in nicely with the other pieces of our roster, and align perfectly with Coach Ham’s philosophy of hard work and smart play.”
Beverley has career averages of 8.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists with the Houston Rockets, Clippers and Timberwolves. He has never missed the playoffs.
Will Lakers Make Western Conference Finals Now?
On May 17th, Beverley told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that the Lakers would reach the Western Conference Finals with him. Los Angeles won only 33 games last season.
“If I was a free agent and I played for the Lakers, [we are] going to the playoffs,” Beverley said. “Going to the Western Conference Finals. No discredit to LeBron James, but he’s doing so much. Who’s the leader? They had success cuz it was a leader there. [Rajon] Rondo was there. At the time, he was the leader. Who’s the leader? Who’s telling LeBron, ‘Hey LeBron, you gotta be low man, bro. That ain’t your help out. You gotta x-out.’ No one’s telling him that. Not on a consistent basis. I’ma tell everyone that cuz I wanna win. Cuz it’s not about me scoring 20. It’s not about me having 15 dimes. I wanna win. I wanna beat everyone I play.”
The Lakers gave up 115.1 points per game last season, which was 28th of 30, and had a defensive rating of 113.3, 21st of 30. Beverley’s defense, toughness, passion and competitiveness could help Los Angeles get back to the promised land.
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