Hawks’ Trae Young reacts to Patrick Beverley’s podcast remarks
Hawks guard Trae Young had plenty to say when it comes to setting the record straight with former NBA guard Patrick Beverley.
In the latest episode of his “From the Point by Trae Young” podcast, the four-time All-Star provided a nearly 12-minute rebuttal to comments Beverley made about him in an episode of “The Pat Bev Pod.”
It all began Sunday, when Young responded to a post from Beverley on X, formerly known as Twitter. Beverley called out the lack of effort from All-Stars in the annual exhibition game.
Young responded by requesting that Beverley allow the players to speak for themselves.
That didn’t seem to sit well with Beverley, who provided a scathing response on his podcast Wednesday, saying he didn’t think Young had won enough to speak to him.
“I don’t think he’s in a position to speak,” Beverley said. “I don’t think he’s won enough to even speak to me like that or tweet me like that. He’s been to the playoffs three times. I’ve been to the playoffs nine (times). 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 will probably be, ‘Yeah, you weren’t the main player on the team.’ Absolutely right, but this is why it’s a team.
“I’ve talked to people who played in Atlanta. They don’t wanna play there. They don’t think he’s a good leader. They don’t think he’s a good teammate. This is not coming from me (expletive), this is coming from ‘Joe Blow’ over there. Trae, you can score all the points you want. You can make all the money you want. You can have all the leading assists you want. You can do all that. If you don’t win, that (expletive) won’t matter. If you don’t win, when you retire they’re gonna forget your name.”
Young, who rarely provides extended defenses of himself, felt the need to address Beverley’s comments Wednesday night in a video posted to YouTube and other social media platforms.
“For me, I want to just talk some facts,” Young said. “Actually the whole time, that’s all we’re going to talk about. It’s just straight facts. Let’s talk about how you were a one-time first-team All-Defense defensive player, a two-time second-team defensive player. Some accolades people can only dream of having. Not a lot of people in the NBA can even say that they’ve had those type of accolades.”
The Hawks guard, who turns 27 on Friday, then continued to comb through Beverley’s career before trolling him for his celebration following the Timberwolves’ win during the 2022 NBA Play-In tournament.
“I win play-in games on the road, and I’m ready to get to the playoffs,” Young said. “You win play-in games at home and you standing on the scorer’s table acting like it’s a championship.”
Young also pushed back on Beverley’s statements about him being a selfish teammate.
“If you really know me and you really know how much I care about the game of basketball, you really know how much I’d rather see my teammates succeed than me, no matter what my numbers look like,” Young said. “I’m sorry, the way I play the game, the way I can come off a pick and roll and find somebody to score or actually put the ball in the basket myself, the numbers generate the way they do. But I promise it’s not a selfish bone in my body.”
Beverley’s comments did not sit too well. New Rockets forward and 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant had some pushback.
While Beverley’s comments did not sit well with Young and others, the Hawks guard tried to end things with the focus on what the team has ahead of them.
“I gotta go to the gym, again, to make sure I’m continuing to stay ready on this grind to this season, this championship run I’m trying to bring to Atlanta,” Young said. “So I ain’t got time for this anymore. Jalen Johnson (is) about to make his first All-Star appearance. Kristaps (Porzingis) is over here, now on the squad. We got Nickeil (Alexander-Walker). It’s about to be a season, man.”
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