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It’s impossible to miss the fun Patrick Beverley has had on social media with some Bulls fans who are pining for his homecoming as an unrestricted free agent next month.
The Marshall High School product has engaged with several of them, including one who offered to pay his moving expenses from Los Angeles to Chicago should he not re-sign with the Clippers.
Beverley also wrote “OK I see u coach” with eyeball emojis when Roy Rogers agreed to an assistant coaching job on Jim Boylen’s staff. Beverley spent one season with Rogers in Houston.
But ask Beverley which has been his favorite social media post from a fan and the veteran guard doesn’t hesitate.
“The ones where they had my picture in a Bulls jersey,” Beverley said Thursday by phone. “That looked pretty dope.”
Given all he endured to enter unrestricted free agency on a professional high following a strong 2018-19 season — the defensive stalwart averaged 7.8 points, 5 rebounds and 3.8 assists — Beverley knows as well as anyone that the NBA is a business. He loved his time with the Clippers, who, with the potential to sign two free agents to max contracts, likely will be focused on other business first. His toughness, leadership, defense and shooting ability make him a strong fit with several teams, including the Bulls, who own significant salary-cap space.
In his words, he’s “open to anything” in free agency. But to say Beverley sounds fired up about the possibility of playing for his hometown team is as much an understatement as saying he persevered to make the NBA.
Beverley first latched on with the Rockets in January 2013, close to four years after the Lakers drafted him in the second round and traded him to the Heat, who cut him. The seven-year veteran, who turns 31 in July, endured stints in the Ukraine, Greece and Russia to be at this precipice of a free-agency payday.
“I am Chicago. I’m from Chicago. I bleed Chicago. I really think I can help the city. I think I can save the city,” Beverley said. “I inspire already. And I’d be a great inspiration just walking around the city of Chicago, knowing I’m from there, knowing that someone made it out and you can go and do the same.
“I’m a Chicago kid. So of course I’m open to playing for the Chicago Bulls if that’s a team that’s interested in me. At the same time, any decision that is made, it’s never personal. It’s always business. I have to make the right decision for me and my family.”
Beverley has had previous flirtations with the Bulls. They almost signed him in 2010, and he worked out at their 2012 summer-league combine.
When executive vice president John Paxson and Boylen talked separately about wanting to add toughness in their season postmortem interviews, it was hard not to think about Beverley.
“You’re a basketball fan. You hear those comments,” Beverley said. “I’m all about winning. The biggest thing for me when I got to LA was everybody wrote us off to make the playoffs. That was one of my goals. Put that on my mirror. We did it as a team. And that’s my thing: Wherever I go, I’m going to win.
“(The Bulls) got a good young core. Coach JB, he seems pretty cool. They just hired Roy Rogers and I’m real familiar with him. They got some young stars in the making. Of course Zach LaVine is a stud. (Lauri) Markkanen is going to be a stud. Wendell Carter Jr. is going to be a stud. It’s all about making the right decision. If it’s not me, then it’s still all love.”
An enduring image from the Clippers’ first-round playoff series against the Warriors was the 6-foot-1 Beverley’s palpable excitement over his occasional matchup against 6-11 Kevin Durant. The two traded words and technical fouls as the Clippers took the two-time-defending champions to six games.
Now, Durant is in the spotlight for the most unfortunate of reasons: He ruptured his right Achilles tendon Monday during Game 5 of the NBA Finals and had surgery on the injury Wednesday.
“First and foremost, you never want to see anyone get injured,” Beverley said. “Prayers up to him and his family. He’s a stud. He’s going to come back right. But you can shine a little spotlight on the first round. We tried to play extremely hard. I tried to make it tough for him and get him off his spots. Of course, he is Kevin Durant. After a couple games, he found ways to adjust and made big-time plays. But it was a fun series.
“If you watched it top to bottom, I really feel from a Western Conference standpoint that we gave them the best run. That’s the type of basketball you want. You don’t ever salute losing — ever. But we can hold our heads up high knowing we got two games in Oracle and made them work.”
Beverley’s entire career has been about work. It’s why his nickname is “Mr. 94 Feet.” It’s why, after taking his typical month off, he said he’s back in the gym. The career 38 percent 3-point shooter and perennial All-Defensive team candidate said he wants to improve his midrange game and playmaking.
“I feel like any team I’m on, I can help take that team to the playoffs,” Beverley said. “Just me, my attitude, what I bring defensively, my grit and grind, my ability to playmake, rebound and make shots, the leader I am, I’m excited to see what door opens. If it’s a young team or older veteran team, I’m ready.
“This is my first time being an unrestricted free agent, so of course I’m super excited to go through the process, to be wooed, to see the hard work and everything I’ve been through to this point be rewarded. I’m just real happy and confident and excited with how this past season went. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
Twitter @kcjhoop
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