The NBA has announced that it has given starting Los Angeles Lakers point guard Patrick Beverley a warning for a violation of its anti-flopping policy.
The league’s announcement included a video link to the offending moment in question during Friday night’s 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Beverley, guarding former Minnesota teammate Taurean Prince near the sideline, egregiously falls backwards as Prince prepares to pass the ball. Replays from multiple angles indicate that Beverley, indeed, did not actually come into contact with Prince at all.
Should Beverley be deemed to be in violation of the league’s anti-flopping policy again, he would be fined. Pat Bev is no stranger to this rule, having been hit with a $5,000 fine by the league back in 2019, when he was still a Los Angeles Clipper.
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Presumably, there are no hard feelings off the floor with his old colleagues, even if Pat Bev was a fierce competitor on it. Beverley played for the Timberwolves during the 2021-22 season, helping Minnesota return to the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Away from the court, Prince reflected on the 34-year-old vet’s impact for the club, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
“I think everybody knows what he stood for and that everybody’s taken a little bit of something from Pat and is carrying it on and will probably keep it for their whole careers… That’s the type of effect he had as a human, not just as a basketball player, but as a human.”
Beverley himself spoke warmly of his brief stint with the Timberwolves during a pregame shoot-around Friday:
The 6’1″ vet reminisced fondly regarding his Timberwolves era. Here are some highlights from the video:
“We had a blast this past year… A lot of good memories. Coming in from a halfway empty house at the beginning of the season and full crowd every time we step on the floor. The fans have been great. It’s a second home for me, for sure.”