Patrick Beverley spent four seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Beverley averaged 8.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 177 games for the Clippers in his career.
He helped set the tone for the team with his intense defensive presence. Beverley did have recurring issues due to injuries but when he did play he was a pest on defense.
He was also effective with his three-point shot, providing crucial floor spacing for the Clippers’ stars.
Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty ImagesPatrick Beverley says Lou Williams is a ‘first ballot’ Hall of Famer
Beverley and Lou Williams played together on Clippers from June 2017 until November 2020, when Williams was traded to the Atlanta Hawks.
Beverley and Williams were both acquired by the Clippers in the same trade from the Houston Rockets in exchange for Chris Paul in 2017.
Both of them were big pieces and helped shift the Clippers’ culture.
Beverley talked about playing with Williams on The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone.
“This is the issue: Sometimes perception is reality. I think it’s not fair to Lou.
“There were years in the locker room with Lou where I felt like, ‘I can’t wait for the All-Star game,’ because my homeboy, somebody I’m close to, is about to make the All-Star game,” he said.
“It might have been the two years with the Clippers where Lou’s numbers might have been better than a lot of guys on the All-Star team, but he just didn’t make the cut.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
“You’ve got to think, Lou has never made $10 million per year ever in the NBA. I don’t think that’s a lack of talent. It’s only perception.
“The perception of the two girlfriends doesn’t look good. The perception of Lemon Pepper Lou doesn’t look good,” he added.
“But in a hooper Hall of Fame, Lou is first ballot.
“Everybody knows that. It’s just you have to be polished the whole way. You have to be unbelievably incredible like he’s been, a three-time Sixth Man of the Year, more than [Manu] Ginobili.”
Lou Williams should’ve started over Austin Rivers and Patrick Beverley
Williams won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award three times in his career.
His first award coming in 2015 with the Toronto Raptors and then he went back-to-back, winning the award in 2018 and 2019 with the Clippers.
Williams averaged 19.1 points, 5.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 261 games for the Clippers in his career. Those numbers were good enough for him to start, but Williams was primarily used from off the bench during his Clippers tenure.
On The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone, Beverley acknowledged that Williams should have started over him and Austin Rivers.
“I think Austin Rivers and I were crying about, ‘You’re going to start; I’m going to be starting; You’re going to start because your dad wants you to start.
“The whole time, Lou Will should have been started. He’s better than both of us.”