It's no secret that Patrick Beverley feels slighted by the fact that he's never won the Defensive Player of the Year award. The Los Angeles Lakers veteran firmly believes that he's the best defender in the entire NBA, which is why he feels that it's a travesty that he's been snubbed for the DPOY title year after year.
Last season, it was Boston Celtics star Marcus Smart who bagged the coveted award. When asked what his reaction was to this development, Beverley did not hold back in his response (h/t The Volume on Twitter):
“Part of me was pissed the f–k off, Dray,” Beverley told Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green on his podcast. “I ain’t gonna lie, bro. I’d be a fool not to sit — from a competitor’s standpoint — I’d be a cap sitting on here telling you I wasn’t pissed off when that happened.”
Beverley then made it clear that he was also proud of Smart for being the only guard to have won the DPOY title since the great Gary Payton bagged the award in 1996. However, Pat Bev still couldn't hold back his own frustration:
“Not from like, I don’t want him to get it — from like, ‘Damn, I’m happy a guard got it, but damn, I’ve been sitting right here. I’ve been sitting right here for years.’ But I respect it. A guard got it.”
"Part of me was pissed the f*ck off Dray!"
—@patbev21 and @Money23Green discuss @smart_MS3 winning DPOY pic.twitter.com/n15LCig0zw
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) October 7, 2022
Beverley then went on to discuss his thought process after calming himself down. The immediate question that came into his mind is, what does he have to do to win it this year?
In the end, Beverley came to the conclusion that he has to win more games — something that he hopes he can do with the Lakers this season. The 34-year-old also realized that he also has to play more games and avoid injuries as much as possible. He even went as far as saying that he's going to play the entire 82 games of the season if necessary.
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