Photo Credit: The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone on YouTube
By Reice Shipley on

Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley has never been afraid of stirring up controversy as a player. And that was quite clear when Beverley spoke candidly about a recent social media dust-up with Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young.

On paper, Beverley and Young couldn’t be more polar opposites when it comes to what they respectively bring to a basketball team. Beverley’s calling card has always been ferocious defense and maximum effort, things that Young has been criticized for lacking. Meanwhile, Young’s effortless scoring ability was a skill that Beverley simply never had at the NBA level.

These differences led to a rather tense disagreement on social media when Beverley addressed the lack of effort in the All-Star Game in comparison to a summer workout for NBA players.

Responding to a post from the X account “Hoop Herald”, questioning why the same effort in offseason scrimmages is not present during the All-Star Game, Beverley spoke candidly, explaining that he believes All-Star’s “take the game for granted.”

“Because All-Stars take the game for granted. Not 1 All-Star on the court. Good bump,” wrote Beverley.

Trae Young, a four-time All-Star over the course of his career, saw Beverley’s post and responded in a rather condescending tone, telling Beverley to “let us speak for ourselves,” referring to the fact that Beverley never made an All-Star Game in his career.

This interaction led Beverley to address Young’s comments on his podcast, The Pat Bev Podcast, which he hosts alongside Barstool Sports’ Adam Ferrone, where he proceeded to tear apart Young’s resume as an NBA player due to his lack of team success.

“I don’t know, I don’t think he is in a position to speak,” said Beverley. “I don’t think he has won enough to speak to me like that or tweet me like that. He’s been to the playoffs three times. I’ve been to the playoff nine. He’s been in the NBA seven years. My first seven years, I didn’t miss the playoffs at all, in the Western Conference. His rebuttal is probably gonna be, ‘Yeah, you weren’t the main player on the team.’ You are absolutely right, this is why it’s a team. I have talked to people who have played in Atlanta. They don’t want to play there. They don’t think he’s a good leader, and they don’t think he’s a good teammate. This is not coming from me, this is coming from Joe Blow over here.

“Trae, you can score all the points you want. You can make all the money you want. You can have all of the leading assists that you want. You can do all of that. If you don’t win, that s*** won’t matter. If you don’t win, when you retire, they will forget your name, fast too. I don’t even think he has the wiggle room to talk about. What the f*** are you not playing hard in the All-Star Game for? It’s not like you are playing in the playoffs. ‘Let us speak?’ What do you mean? Okay, well let the motherf****** who have played in the playoffs nine years speak too then before you speak. Someone he played with told me, ‘Hey Pat, that ain’t the Atlanta Hawks, it’s the Trae Hawks.’

Beverley would go on to challenge Young’s wording of “relax” to him, telling him that he should be the opposite of “relaxed” considering his lack of team success.

“The first word he used is relax. And I’m like, relax? You should be uncomfortable. You should be more uncomfortable. That’s the problem, you are too relaxed. Get uncomfortable. Really get uncomfortable and lead your team to some more wins and a playoff push. The game needs that from you. Trust me, there are kids here that look up to you. You talking about me f****** relax? You get uncomfortable, I challenge you to do that. Don’t put yourself up here because you score a lot of points and a lot of assists, but you lose.

“I have been on teams that have won 50 games. I don’t know what missing the playoffs feels like. I have to tell my family every year, ‘Dad will be home in June.’ I don’t know what April and early May in Atlanta feels like. I don’t, knee deep in the trenches. Go and get MVP every year in the All-Star Game. Then I won’t say s*** to you. You relax… Matter of fact, you know what, don’t relax, you  get uncomfortable. F*** that, you are too relaxed. You are too cool, stop being so cool.”

Whether you view Beverley’s response to Young as incredibly petty or painfully true, it’s certainly a clear attack on who Young is as a player. So, regardless of whether Beverley decides to ultimately retire before the 2025-26 NBA season, which he has recently said is a possibility after playing overseas in Israel last year, or look for an NBA team to sign, don’t expect the Hawks to be a place that Beverley considers going.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley