Lakers trade for Patrick Beverley
The Los Angeles Lakers trade two young players for Patrick Beverley from the Utah Jazz.
By: Gary Guillory
Patrick Beverley joins the Lakers on a one-year, $13 million contract and will be a free agent in 2023. Beverley’s performance with the Lakers will determine whether they re-sign him next summer during the off-season.
As part of the Utah Jazz's redevelopment, the Los Angeles Lakers sent Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to Utah. Before the trade was made official, Beverley went on to Twitter saying “Woke up a Laker!!! It’s On!!!"
From the official Lakers website, General Manager Rob Pelinka said, "We are thrilled to add Patrick Beverley’s toughness and competitive spirit to our team […] We’re confident that Patrick’s ‘3-and-D’ style will fit in nicely with the other pieces of our roster, and align perfectly with Coach Ham’s philosophy of hard work and smart play.”
During his introductory presser, via Spectrum SportsNet, Beverley revealed that the trade to Los Angeles was unexpected. “The Minnesota trade came out sideways. No one on my team didn’t expect that to happen, I’m preparing like I’m going back to Minnesota. I get a call, You’re traded to Utah.’ My mindset is like, I have to take Utah to the playoffs. That’s just my mindset. "
Many Laker fans on Twitter are questioning what will happen between Beverley and Russell Westbrook due to their long feud on and off the court. During his introductory presser, via introductory presser, Beverley has recently been giving a lot of praise to Westbrook. “I always wanted to play with him [...] a player with that competitive spirit. I am super excited to see where it goes. I am just excited to be able to compete with someone like that."
During his interview, Lakers Head Coach Darvin Ham recently showed some keenness for Beverley, saying, “I think he’s going to be a lovely addition to our ball club and a great tone-setter [...] I think it’s going to be one hell of a year. So, I'm looking forward to him setting a really nice tone, especially on the defensive side of the ball, which we really need to improve on and which will get us where we need to go.”
One reporter asked him what it was going to be like to play with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Beverley said, “They’re going to be playing with me. I made the playoffs last year, they didn’t. It’s a difference. ”