Offseason NBA beef watch: Trae Young and Patrick Beverley

Patrick Beverley has never shied away from a beef. With anyone.

Enter Trae Young. Beverley and the Atlanta Hawks’ All-Star guard have been going back and forth this week, and it all started over the All-Star Game. It all began on X, when Beverley responded to a question about why players go harder in random summer pick-up games than the All-Star Game — Beverley said the All-Stars take the game for granted — then Young jumped in and said All-Stars should speak on that.

Beverley came back hard at Young on the Pat Bev Podcast. It started with Beverley saying, “I don’t think he’s won enough to even speak to me like that or tweet me like that,” and then added, “I’ve talked to people who played in Atlanta. They don’t wanna play there. Why? They don’t think he’s a good leader. They don’t think he’s a good teammate.”

Shots fired.

Young came back hard in an almost 12-minute video where he said Beverley was about seeking attention. “You don’t know what it’s like to be in my position, you don’t know what it’s like to put my shoes on. I promise you — there’s not a selfish bone in my body.”

Kevin Durant rallied to Young’s defense, calling Beverley “delusional.” The Hawks’ social media team put together a video of Young scoring on Beverley.

Beverley then came back with shots of his own, saying Young gets coaches and general managers fired because of his play.

In this beef, the ultimate score is that Young is a four-time All-Star, while Beverley played in zero.

Young, however, enters this season feeling some pressure. The Atlanta front office went out and put the best team — on paper — around Young he has ever had with Kristaps Porzingis at the five, shooting and defense in Nickeil Alexander-Walker, more shooting in Luke Kennard, plus Jalen Johnson returns healthy from a breakout year sidelined by injuries, and Zaccharie Risacher should take a step forward in his sophomore year. The Hawks are projected as a top-four team in the East.

Young did not get the contract extension he wanted this summer, and now the pressure is on him to lead this group to a high seed and maybe the second round of the playoffs, or it will not just be Beverley asking questions.