Patrick Beverley’s reported team preference shows he was never a Lakers fit
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers traded for Patrick Beverley over the summer and that was the “big move” for the front office. To be fair, at the time, the trade seemed like a genius one. Talen Horton-Tucker was not who the Lakers thought he would be and at worst, Los Angeles got financial freedom after the 2022-23 season.
Somehow the trade has gone even worse than expected. While Beverley has been fine on the defensive end, he has been so bad offensively that it outweighs any positive impact that he has on the defensive end.
The veteran point guard is averaging 4.6 points per game on 30.3% shooting. He has an Offensive Box Plus/Minus of -5.0, which ranks dead last among the 196 players in the NBA with at least 500 minutes played this season. That is how bad it is has been.
As an expiring contract that is disappointing, Beverley has become the main player entangled in trade rumors this season. It seems more likely than not that Beverley will be traded away, where he will likely end up getting bought out by his new team. It appears that Beverley already has his eyes set on his next destination if that does indeed happen (h/t Jake Fischer, Yahoo Sports):
"“Should Beverley ultimately get moved to a rebuilding situation like the Pistons, the grizzled guard has a desire to return to Minnesota, sources said, should he reach free agency via buyout.”"
Patrick Beverley’s yearning for the Timberwolves proves he was never a Lakers fit.
Despite all of the positive things he said about LeBron James and the comradery he showed with Russell Westbrook, Beverley never seemed like a great fit on the Lakers. He certainly did not mail it in and still gave his typical Beverley energy but the fact that he is already yearning for his previous team shows a lot.
To be fair, Beverley was a great fit for the Timberwolves. He was the veteran leader that the young team needed that gave them a much-needed edge. He played far better than he is this season with the Lakers and had an even bigger impact on the locker room.
That impact is not felt as much in Los Angeles, where the locker room has more veterans and is led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With that off-court presence not being as big, it makes his on-court struggles even worse.
Quite frankly, we should have all known that this fit would be doomed from the start. The second that Rob Pelinka said that Beverley was going to be a three-and-D wing was the second that his fit in LA died. The Lakers didn’t know what they were getting in Beverley or how to utilize him and Beverley couldn’t have the same impact on the Lakers that he did in Minnesota.
It is probably best for everyone involved if Patrick Beverley gets traded and returns to the Timberwolves to try and save their disappointing season.