Patrick Beverley’s comments blasting Phoenix guard Chris Paul on Monday after the Suns’ blowout loss in Game 7 to the Mavericks set off a chain reaction in the NBA community. While some may have agreed with Beverley’s statements, others did not.
76ers guard Danny Green shared some candid comments with Harrison Sanford on his TV show Inside the Green Room with Danny Green discussing Beverley’s recent criticism of Paul not being able to play defense. Beverley referred to Paul as an “orange cone” that remains still.
While the full episode of the show does not air until Saturday night, Green was very blunt on his stance that Beverley was a liability on defense against bigger guards like Mavericks star Luka Dončić.
“People target you, too, Pat Bev,” Green said. “You ain’t playing no f------ defense out there. You ain’t stopping Luka. Time and time again, I’ve seen Luka call you’re a-- ‘little man, ‘he’s too f------ small’ and go right at you every chance he got.
When you play Luka, you are a cone, too. How would you like that?”
Beverley fired a response back at Green, tweeting how Dončić never scored against him during the 28 possessions he guarded the Mavs’ star this season.
Green’s comments come two days after Matt Barnes called Beverley “disrespectful” for his statements toward Paul.
“There’s a thin line between being critical and disrespecting,” Barnes said on ESPN’s NBA Today. “Pat Beverley talking like he’s that guy. You’re not that guy, plain and simple. Chris Paul was playing terrible, and his numbers are still better than your career numbers have ever been.
“I just think you have to understand, Chris is a 12-time All-Star, seven-time First-Team All-Defense; he’ll be a Hall of Famer. Pat Bev and I are similar type role players. They don’t talk about us when we go. They’re gonna talk about CP3 when he’s done.”
Beverley is catching all the smoke from some of the league’s better role players throughout their careers.
While Beverley has since responded to Barnes’s comments, it will be interesting to see what Paul has to say to Beverley if and when he chooses to respond.
