Patrick Beverly stirred controversy after sharing his thoughts on longtime rival Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns after they lost the Western Conference NBA Playoffs semifinals series to the Dallas Mavericks with a final score of 123-90.
Beverly appeared on various ESPN programs after the game, where he called Chris Paul a "cone" who couldn't guard anyone. Beverly told Stephen A. Smith on Get Up!, "Man, ain’t nobody worried about Chris Paul when you play the Phoenix Suns, nobody in the NBA. … CP can’t guard anybody man. Everybody in the NBA know that. You know those cones in the summer that you dribble around? What does the cone do? Nothing. He’s a cone."
Matt Barnes appeared on ESPN's NBA Today, where he responded to Beverley going at Chris Paul. Barnes stated that "Chris Paul’s obviously going to take a lot of the blame," adding that Paul "didn’t play well from Games 3-7."
Matt then added, "As reporters, as part of the media, we have a job to be critical, but I think there’s a thin line between being critical and disrespecting and what Pat Beverley did today to Chris Paul was completely disrespectful and out of line. And Pat Beverley’s talking like he’s that guy. You’re not that guy. Chris Paul played terrible this series and his numbers are still better than your career numbers have ever been. So I just think you have to understand, he’s a 12-time All-Star — he played terrible — All-Defense nine times, seven-times first-team All-Defense, he’ll be a Hall of Famer."
Barnes closed out his statement by saying, "Pat Bev and I were similar type role players. They don’t talk about us when we go, they’re gonna talk about CP3 when he’s done, and I just think the disrespect we saw earlier today on ESPN shows needs to be checked cause he’s way out of pocket. … All he needed was the red clown nose, cause he was out there talking like a clown. And I just think to me, again, CP is a legend in this game. We were role players, so have some respect for guys. He did play terrible and he’d be the first to tell you, but the shots Bev took today were just out of pocket. I know no one else is gonna tell him that, so I’m gonna tell him that."
