Patrick Beverley was going off on just about every ESPN program there is Sunday morning, taking the opportunity to relish in the Suns’ Game 7 loss and trash his rival Chris Paul.
Among his various takes, Beverley said Paul “can’t guard anybody” and that nobody in the league has been scared of the Phoenix Suns all year. He also called Paul “ConeP3” because you can dribble around him like a cone.
It’s hard to deny that Beverley’s takes weren’t entertaining, but former Warrior Matt Barnes thought they crossed the line.
“What I want to touch on real quickly is the disrespect I saw from Pat Beverley earlier today,” Barnes said on ESPN’s ‘NBA Today.’ “As reporters, part of the media, we have a job to be critical, but I think there’s a thin line from being critical and disrespect. I feel like what Pat Beverley did today to Chris Paul was completely disrespectful and out of line.
“Pat Beverley’s talking like he’s that guy. You’re not that guy, plain and simple. Chris Paul played terrible this series and his numbers are still better than your career numbers have ever been. I just think you have to understand. Chris is a 12-time All-Star…All-Defense nine times, seven times first-team All-Defense. He’ll be a Hall of Famer.
“Pat Bev and I were similar-type role players. They don’t talk about us when we go, they are going to talk about CP3 when he’s done. I just think the disrespect we saw on the ESPN shows needs to be checked.”
Then Barnes took it a step further.
“All he needed was the red clown nose cause he was out there talking like a clown today.
“The shots Pat Bev took today were out of pocket. I know no one is going to tell him that so I’m going to tell him that.”
Now we need to see Barnes and Beverley on ‘First Take’ to hash it out in person.