Dejounte Murray, Paolo Banchero Beef is Wholly Unnecessary But Still Entertaining

This summer marks the first "true" NBA offseason for most of the league since 2019 after the league calendar more or less got back to normal this past season. This may explain why there are more viral videos of pros playing in pickup leagues around the country going around this summer than we've seen in some time. LeBron James showing up at the Drew League is the peak example, but on Sunday a pickup game in Washington, Dejounte Murray and Paolo Banchero went at each other hard and sparked the first beef of the 2022 season.

It's a weird beef, though, because it's a bit unclear why it started or where the problems lie. From the videos that emerged from the game it seemed Murray took it upon himself to remind Banchero that being the No. 1 pick in the draft doesn't mean he's made it quite yet.

A little over-the-top but professional athletes need to bring this kind of absurd competitiveness to every game. But for whatever reason Murray unfollowed Banchero on Instagram after the game, and Banchero noticed.

Which led to Murray's own response:

Like I said in the title: wholly unnecessary but entertaining regardless. The two will play each other several times next season after Murray got traded to the Hawks and Banchero got picked by the Magic, so should this "beef" carry over into regular-season basketball, fireworks may be in store.