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Russell Westbrook vs. Patrick Beverley: Lakers' trade with Jazz brings long-running beef to Los Angeles

Jordan Greer

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Russell Westbrook vs. Patrick Beverley: Lakers' trade with Jazz brings long-running beef to Los Angeles image

The Lakers' locker room is about to get even more uncomfortable.

Los Angeles is finalizing a trade to acquire Utah guard Patrick Beverley, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Lakers will reportedly send Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to the Jazz as part of the deal, which is expected to be completed on Thursday.

This move comes amid an offseason in which trade rumors have been constantly hanging over Russell Westbrook's head. It's possible that the Lakers move the former NBA MVP before the start of the 2022-23 season, but for now, he will be forced to team up with one of his most bitter rivals.

How did the Westbrook vs. Beverley beef start? And how has it evolved over the past decade?

Let's travel back to 2013...

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Westbrook's knee injury (2013)

The Thunder entered the 2013 NBA Playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. The dynamic duo of Westbrook and Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City to a 60-22 record during the regular season, and a Finals rematch with the Heat was on the table.

Then, in Game 2 of their first-round matchup with the Rockets, their championship dreams disappeared.

Beverley went for a steal as a timeout was being called and collided with Westbrook's right knee. Westbrook could be seen limping on the sideline and slamming his hand against the scorer's table.

Westbrook was eventually diagnosed with a torn meniscus, and he missed the rest of the playoffs. The Thunder were able to eliminate the Rockets, but they fell to the Grizzlies in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Westbrook was reportedly "irate" with Beverley, but that was only the beginning of their feud.

Another timeout incident (2014)

In March 2014, Westbrook found himself bumping into Beverley again. Westbrook dribbled the ball toward the sideline, and the Thunder called a timeout. Beverley, always an irritant, reached for the ball.

This time, though, Westbrook was ready to defend himself.

A fresh war of words (2017)

When Westbrook and the Thunder met Beverley and the Rockets in the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs, the script had flipped. Houston, led by former Thunder guard James Harden, defeated OKC in five games. (It turns out losing someone like Durant is a big deal.)

Westbrook and Beverley managed to sneak in a verbal altercation before the end of the series after Westbrook appeared to hit Beverley below the belt in the fourth quarter of the deciding Game 5.

During his postgame media availability, Beverley pointed out that Westbrook needed to launch 34 field goal attempts to reach 47 points. Westbrook was unsurprisingly dismissive of Beverley's defensive performance.

"He was talking about he was First Team All-Defense, but I didn't know what the hell he was talking about," Westbrook said.

Beverley dives at Westbrook's leg — again (2018)

Yep, it happened again.

Beverley, a member of the Clippers at this stage of his career, dove for a loose ball and sent Westbrook tumbling to the floor during an October 2018 game. Westbrook and Beverley shared a few comments with each other after the whistle.

When asked about the play, Beverley told reporters, "I didn't [feel like it was a flagrant foul]. I felt like I went for a loose ball."

'Pat Bev trick y'all, man' (2019)

After a November 2019 game between Westbrook's Rockets and Beverley's Clippers, Westbrook took a shot at Beverley. Westbrook noted that Beverley's primary assignment, Harden, finished with a game-high 47 points.

"Pat Bev trick y'all, man, like he play defense," Westbrook said. "He don't guard nobody, man. He just running around, doing nothing."

When asked by ESPN's Tim MacMahon about Westbrook's comments, Beverley simply said, "I don't care about that."

In the Rockets' victory, Harden scored his 47 points on 12-of-26 shooting from the field. However, Harden went 0-of-6 from the field against Beverley with four turnovers, per ESPN Stats and Info.

More 'trash' talk (2019)

Later that month, Beverley got some revenge, mocking Westbrook's miss on a potential game-winning 3-pointer.

ESPN cameras also caught Westbrook responding on the other end. He appeared to be screaming "trash" at Beverley during one close-up shot.

Beverley remembers Westbrook's quote (2022)

Beverley, who joined the Timberwolves last season, brought the beef back to the surface in February when he used Westbrook's own quote against him.

"I remember when somebody said all I do is run around and I trick y'all," Beverley tweeted. "Well my boy is The Real Magician this year."

The timing of the tweet couldn't have been much better for Beverley or worse for Westbrook.

The Lakers had lost seven of their last 10 games, dropping them down to No. 9 in the Western Conference standings. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, had won seven of their last 10 games, pushing them up to the No. 7 seed.

Kicking Westbrook while he's down (2022)

With the Westbrook experiment clearly failing in Los Angeles, Beverley kept hurling insults down the final stretch of the regular season.

In the first half of a Timberwolves blowout win against the Lakers, Beverley dared Westbrook to shoot a 3-pointer, stole his pass to LeBron James and called him "trash."

Westbrook told reporters that he wasn't paying attention to the chatter because "nobody over there has done anything in this league."

Of course, that prompted Beverley to fire off a tweet.

Have fun playing together, guys.

Jordan Greer

Jordan Greer Photo

Jordan Greer has been with The Sporting News since 2015. He previously worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is a graduate of Westminster College and Syracuse University.