Is JJ Redick Versus Patrick Beverley a Podcast Feud or a Basketball Beef?
JJ Redick had some choice words for Doc Rivers on Tuesday's edition of First Take. Redick accused his former coach and colleague of never taking accountability and throwing his teams under the bus. A few hours later, one of Rivers' current players, Patrick Beverley, took to Twitter to defend his coach. And then Redick responded. Here's the full exchange as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
Pat my guy I had a four year offer with player option for the same money to be a starter for a different team. FOH “saved my career”. https://t.co/5lXowm2j8e
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) February 20, 2024
What I'd like to know is whether Beverley is defending Rivers as a player or as a podcaster. Beverley, who recently joined Doc Rivers on the Milwaukee Bucks, previously played for Doc on the Los Angeles Clippers from 2017 to 2020. His time in LA did not overlap with Redick, who left for Philadelphia following the '16-'17 season.
So it makes sense if this is purely a basketball thing. However, it's just as likely that Beverley is doing this for the podcast content. Beverley was just accused last month of planting a "reporter" at a postgame press conference who asked a question that generated a response that he talked about on his podcast.
I recognize every voice that asks questions in Magic post game pressers. I strongly believe this was a Pat Bev plant. https://t.co/qnjlEnRFkG
— Brandon Kravitz (@BrandonKravitz) January 25, 2024
Thrilling stuff. Truly.
Does Beverley want to defend his coach? Probably, but is it just as likely that he thought saying something on Twitter that Redick would respond to would give him an expanded topic to discuss on his next podcast? Maybe! We're just asking questions about content over here. That's just where we are in 2024.