Milwaukee Bucks stars Patrick Beverly and Damian Lillard have ended their beef: What do we know?
With a well-known beef between them, who could have guessed the two stars would find a middle ground? There could be good times ahead in Milwaukee.
One of them is among the best point guards to play the game and the other one of the best defenders. They haven’t always seen eye to eye but now they’re teammates and that’s something that has brought about an unexpected friendship, which can only be good for the team.
Patrick Beverley & Damian Lillard have made up
Believe it or not, Milwaukee Bucks stars Patrick Beverley and Damian Lillard are right as rain following a period of shall we say, less-than-friendly relations. As the story goes, the pair were celebrating teammate Bobby Portis’ birthday when they decided to call time on their stand-off and get to work on fixing the problem. Interestingly, Beverly himself gave insight into how it all went down during a recent episode of his podcast, “The Pat Bev Podcast”, where explained that it was actually Lillard who made the first move.
“We go to Bobby Portis’ birthday party,” Beverley said. “Dame goes, ‘What’s up, Pat?’ Mind you, this is two games into playing with each other. ‘Sup Dame, you aight?’ ‘I’m good, I’m good. Hey, we need to sit down and talk.’” According to Beverly, he decided to cut to the chase. “F--- talking, let’s just go out to dinner.” Beverly then went on to explain the effect that the move had on their relationship. “He sees me now. He sees me as a player, coworker,” he stated. “He sees me in a light that he hasn’t seen me in before.”
Of course, while it’s nice to see the end of the story, one which will likely help the Bucks in their cause, it’s also important to understand where it all began. To be clear, Beverley and Lillard have a competitive history that goes back to Beverley’s time in Los Angeles, a period when Lillard was still the main man in Portland. During that time, both players engaged in what can be considered ‘gamesmanship’, as they constantly taunted each other both on the court and on social media as well.
As you can imagine, when Beverley’s trade deadline move from the Philadelphia 76ers was announced, many wondered how he would gel with the Bucks’ blockbuster acquisition. It was in fact something that he alluded to on his podcast when he first arrived saying, “I gotta get my relationship right with Dame...It’s time to win a championship.” Clearly, the message was received as the Bucks have continued to demonstrate that they are among the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference. With a record of 37-21 and a third place standing in the conference, they will take on the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night.