Los Angeles Lakers veteran Jared Dudley is not a fan of Paul George. So much that Dudley decided to sound off on the Los Angeles Clippers star in his new mini-book released on Kindle. Dudley did not hold back in explaining why the entire Lakers squad actually had beef with George during their time inside the Disney World bubble.
Dudley started off by setting the premise of the much talked about “Battle of LA.” As it turns out, there was actually a real sense of rivalry between the Lakers and the Clippers and Dudley explains why (h/t Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen & Roll):
We don’t talk to people on other teams. As far as we’re concerned, our squad is the only squad. We know that there are some real feelings regarding the Clippers. It’s more than just battle-for-LA stuff, though that’s part of it.
We hear some of those guys talking about how they’re the team to beat in LA. It’s fine if Kawhi says stuff like that. He’s defending a championship. We don’t trip if someone like Patrick Beverley is talking trash; that’s how he feeds his family. We get it. We respect the hustle.
Dudley then went into detail as to why he believes Paul George, who himself has a bit of history with the Lakers, was being disrespectful and how this actually fueled the Lakers' desire to defeat their cross-town rivals:
But we think it’s disrespectful for Paul George, who hasn’t won, to put himself on the level of Bron and AD. This motivates us. When we see those guys around the compound, we don’t really kick it with them. The one exception of course is Markieff, whose twin brother, Marcus, is on the Clippers. This probably keeps tensions from boiling over.
Unfortunately, these two teams were unable to face off on the basketball court in the playoffs. The Clippers ended up being unceremoniously ousted in the second round by the Denver Nuggets, while the Lakers, well, we all know how that turned out.
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