"They blamed me, they blamed Russ" - Patrick Beverley takes subtle shot at Lakers amid LeBron James & LA trade drama
In the seasons between winning the NBA Finals in 2020 and now, the LA Lakers have found themselves in some very disappointing circumstances. They've missed the playoffs once after finishing with a 33-49 record and were a play-in team in 2021 and 2023.
During these seasons, the Lakers went through a lot of changes. They fired Frank Vogel, even though he was the head coach who led them to their most recent title win. Then they went through a revolving door of rotational pieces to surround their star duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
This season has been no different for them as they find themselves sitting in the ninth spot in the West with half of the season left. As expected, they are once again rumored to be thinking about making drastic moves to put themselves back in the playoff picture. One of their recent departures had some things to say about the team.
In his podcast with Adam Ferrone, Patrick Beverley decided to take potshots at the Lakers.
"What the Lakers over there doing? What they got going?" Pat Bev asked somewhat rhetorically.
Adam Ferrone responded by bringing up LeBron's cryptic hourglass tweet and the pair briefly speculated on what it could mean. Afterward, Ferrone asked Beverley if it was more fun being with the team or watching the events unfold from afar.
"When I left they blamed me, they blamed [Russell Westbrook], We on some of the best teams in the NBA," Beverly replied.
Ferrone followed up his question by asking his co-host who was getting traded. Beverley said that he didn't know before bringing up the fact that D'Angelo Russell has been playing well over his last few games.
Ferrone then interrupts him to say that it certainly still seems like D'Lo will be the guy that LA trades before the deadline.
"Yeah, his stock just rised, you get a little bit more for him now," Beverley said in response as they move on to a different LA-related topic after.
D'Angelo Russell's string of high-scoring games may swing Lakers' trade plans
With his name appearing front and center in all the trade rumors, D'Angelo Russell suddenly erupted for several high-scoring games.
Starting on Jan. 13 against the Utah Jazz, he scored 39 points in a losing effort. The next game wasn't quite as good, as he only scored 14. However, he was a positive for his team as he was a +3. Possibly due to his six assists and two steals.
After that, he went on a seven-game streak where he scored 20 or more. His highest being a 34-point game on Jan. 21 against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Whether that raised his trade stock or swung the opinion of the front office with regards to trading him is still up in the air. That said, his string of good games came to an end on Jan. 30.
Coincidentally, D'Lo ended up matching with Dejounte Murray, who he's been tied to in recent weeks. The former All-Star has come up in the trade rumors as the Lakers' primary target to replace Russell.
Maybe the pressure got to him, or Murray's defensive talents got the better of him. Perhaps it's a combination of both. Nonetheless, it caused him to only put up nine points on 3-for-11 shooting from the field.