Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley isn’t one to be at a loss of words. Quite the opposite, actually.
And Beverley offered a theory on why the Lakers have struggled to find a third “star” to pair alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The Laker fans, the real ones, they know basketball because they’ve seen it a lot, they’ve been through it a lot,” Beverley said on his podcast, via HoopsHype. “What they don’t understand is their effect on making their own team better.
“They talk so bad about their players that they actually decrease their value. So now when a trade comes (…) and any team like, we like we had (Mavericks owner) Mark Cuban on he said it was plenty of teams that he would love to do deals with, if you want to make a trade with the Lakers, ain’t nobody just giving you sh*t.”
For the record, the Lakers just pulled off a deal earlier in the week in which they acquired forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton from the Nets in exchange for guard D’Angelo Russell and some second-round picks.
Whether that actually moves the NBA needle in LA remains to be seen.
“Any trade you have has to be that someone go, ‘No we want this, no and we want this,’ obviously because you’re the Lakers, no one’s trying to help the Los Angeles Lakers as far as trade-wise, management-wise, and getting players that they want back,” Beverley added. “‘OK cool, we know you guys want this guy? He’s (worth) a second-rounder to every other team but to the Lakers he’s (worth) two first rounds.’ No one’s trying to help the Lakers.”
Maybe Beverley has a point. Maybe other teams want to help the Lakers even less than other teams. Maybe not, too. The idea in any trade is to rip off the other guy while telling him he’s getting a great deal. That’s unlikely to be exclusive to LA, and either way, the fans likely have little to do with it.
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Yeah that’s it. It’s the fans. Not ESPN and LeBron claiming he doesn’t have enough help year after year. The narrative they are selling to the fans to make excuses when they lose, that the role players they have aren’t good enough, that has NOTHING to do with it.
And fans who bash those players likely never watched ESPN and Stephen A Smith and others who destroy hall of famers like Russel Westbrook. It’s JUST the fans. They came up with that all on their own.
Just get back on D, rotate when you’re supposed to, and stop the scapegoat games.
Pat Beverly is looking for an NBA contract from the Lakers. He’s falling right in line with what they want to hear. Good thinking Pat. You may earn yourself a roster spot by end of the season.