Patrick Beverley (born July 12, 1988) is an American professional basketball player who last played for PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroCup. Originally from Chicago's West Side, Beverley played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. He spent the first five years of his pro career overseas, playing in Ukraine, Greece, and Russia. In January 2013, he signed with the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
After four and a half seasons with the Rockets, he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in a package for Chris Paul in 2017. Beverley spent four seasons with the Clippers, culminating in the first Conference Finals appearance in franchise history. He has also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia 76ers, and Milwaukee Bucks. Beverley is a three-time NBA All-Defensive Team member, known for his physicality. He has been involved in a number of publicized on-court incidents.
Beverley was raised in West Garfield Park on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. He attended Waubonsie Valley High School in a suburb of Chicago as a freshman, before transferring to John Marshall Metropolitan High School on Chicago's West Side. As a senior at John Marshall, he led the state in scoring with 37.3 points per game and was named Co-Player of the Year. Beverley was also selected to play in the Roundball Classic on April 8, 2006, a national high school All-Star Game held at Chicago's United Center.
As a freshman playing for the Arkansas Razorbacks in 2006–07, Beverley averaged 13.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.7 steals (6th in the SEC) per contest, with a free throw percentage of .812 (3rd). He was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Newcomer of the Year by the Associated Press and the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league's coaches. He earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors and second-team All-SEC honors.
As a sophomore in 2007–08, Beverley started in 33 of 35 contests and led the Razorbacks in rebounds (6.6 rpg), steals (1.3 spg), and 3-point percentage (.378), and was second in points (12.1 ppg) and third in assists (2.4 apg). For his performance in the 2007–08 campaign, Beverley was a candidate for the Wooden Award as well as Naismith Award.
In August 2008, Beverley was deemed ineligible to play in the 2008–09 season due to academic issues. Denying speculation that insufficient grades were to blame, Beverley admitted that he had been suspended because of an academic integrity issue on a class paper. Instead of waiting out his suspension, Beverley hired an agent and decided to hone his skills for professional basketball in Europe. Although originally denying it he eventually owned up to it saying "Someone did a paper for me. I turned in a paper that wasn't mine. I accepted full punishment for it. That's over. I served my punishment — going overseas."
In October 2008, at the age of 20, Beverley signed a one-year contract for "just over six figures" with the Ukrainian team Dnipro; the contract had no buyout, and Beverley was free to leave at season's end without penalty. He participated in the Ukrainian Basketball League (UBL) All-Star Game and won the league's Slam Dunk Contest. In 46 games for Dnipro, Beverley averaged 16.7 points, 7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.3 blocks.
Olympiacos Piraeus (2009–2010)
Beverley was automatically entered into the 2009 NBA draft, where he was selected with the 42nd overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers. On June 26, 2009, a day after the draft, the Miami Heat announced that they had acquired the draft rights to Beverley from the Lakers in exchange for a 2011 second-round draft pick and cash considerations. He was later cut as a part of the final roster cuts.
On August 26, 2009, Beverley signed with the Greek team Olympiacos Piraeus. He helped Olympiacos win the 2010 Greek Cup title and reach the finals of both the EuroLeague and the Greek League. In 19 EuroLeague games, he averaged 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds. He also appeared in 22 Greek League games and averaged 4.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.
Spartak St. Petersburg (2011–2012)
On January 9, 2011, Beverley signed with Spartak St. Petersburg for the rest of the 2010–11 season. On November 10, 2011, he signed a contract extension with Spartak. The new deal locked Beverley in with the team through 2014 and included an option for the 2014–15 season. On January 28, 2012, Beverley scored a professional career-high 38 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists in a 2OT loss to the Spartak Primorye.
On April 6, 2012, Beverley was selected as the EuroCup MVP for the 2011–12 season. He dominated throughout the season as he led his team to a spot in the EuroCup semifinals. He was the team leader in scoring, steals, and performance index rating, and second in rebounds, assists, and three-pointers made; the team led the competition in points against per game and finished with a 13–3 record. His 1.9 steals per game led the EuroCup, he was second in index rating, and at just 1.85 meters, Beverley was the shortest player in the competition to average more than four rebounds per game.
On July 19, 2012, Beverley announced that he would not be returning to Spartak for the 2012–13 season, but Spartak insisted that he honor his contract—he could only void his contract if he received an NBA offer. He continued on with Spartak in 2012–13, but left the team on December 23 after reaching an agreement with the Houston Rockets.
On January 7, 2013, Beverley signed a 3-year, $1.985 million contract with the Rockets and was assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League. He spent a week with the Vipers before making his NBA debut on January 15, 2013, in a 117–109 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. In just under two minutes off the bench, he recorded three points, one assist, and one steal. On February 23, 2013, he made three 3-pointers and scored a career-high 15 points in a 105–103 loss to the Washington Wizards. In his first season with Houston, he averaged 5.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 0.90 steals in 41 games. In Game 2 of the Rockets' first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Beverley had his first career start and recorded 16 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals, and one block. He had another 16-point effort in Game 4 to help the Rockets avoid elimination with a 105–103 win, but they lost the series in six games.
Beverley had an injury-plagued season in 2013–14; he played 56 out of 82 games. He was placed on the inactive list for 14 games following surgery on December 23 to repair a fracture in his right hand. On February 23, he had his first career 20-point outing in a 115–112 win over the Phoenix Suns. He tied that mark in the third-last game of the season, scoring 20 points in a 111–104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on April 12. He was named in the NBA All-Defensive Second Team for the 2013–14 season.
On February 14, 2015, Beverley came from behind in the semifinal and final rounds to win the Skills Challenge during NBA All-Star Weekend. On March 30 he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a left wrist injury.
On July 9, 2015, Beverley re-signed with the Rockets on a four-year, $23 million deal. He was selected to compete in the 2016 Skills Challenge to defend his title, but an ankle injury forced him to withdraw. On March 18, 2016, he recorded a then season-high 18 points and a career-high 10 assists in a 116–111 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. On March 31, he scored a career-high 22 points in a 103–100 loss to the Chicago Bulls.