Hawks‘ Trae Young and patrick beverley Engage in Heated Exchange Over effort, Leadership
ATLANTA – September 18, 2025 – A long-simmering rivalry between Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young and veteran Patrick Beverley has erupted into a public war of words, centering on Young’s All-Star effort, leadership, and the perception of playing in Atlanta. the exchange began following an appearance by Young on the “From The Free Throw Lines” podcast and escalated with a lengthy youtube response from Beverley released Thursday night.
Young addressed his history with Beverley on the podcast,stating he was never intimidated by the defensive-minded guard – a sentiment he maintained still holds true. He also extended an olive branch, saying he harbors “nothing but love” for Beverley and suggesting Beverley could reach out through former teammates if he wished to connect.”Or if you want to just keep talking about it, you can keep talking about it,” Young added.
The podcast concluded with a snippet of Drake’s 2013 song “Tuscan Leather,” specifically the line “Bench players talkin’ like starters, I hate it,” a reference Young appeared to make considering the ongoing discussion.He acknowledged the expectation that fans would focus on that particular lyric, stating, “I know a lot of people wanted me probably just to listen to that Drake song and post that bar. We all know how that goes.”
The Hawks institution further fueled the back-and-forth by posting a compilation video on X (formerly Twitter) showcasing Young scoring against Beverley in past matchups.
Beverley responded with a roughly 15-minute YouTube video, criticizing Young’s statistics as “empty stats” and questioning their impact on team success. He also pointed to perceived defensive deficiencies. “Humble yourself. Embrace the constructive criticism,” Beverley urged Young. “Get better at that and move the f— on. We don’t have to keep going back like this a motherf—ing YouTube debate. Like it ain’t that deep.”
A central point of Beverley’s critique focused on the instability within the Hawks organization during Young’s tenure. Since being drafted in 2018, Young has played under three general managers and three full-time head coaches. Beverley asserted, “Everyone that comes sees Trae Young, they get thrown out the building by their collar, you hear me? Players come. they see you, they get traded. Coaches come. They coach you,they get traded. GMs come.They govern the team and then they get fired. Everyone that sees trae Young gets fired.That’s the truth. … People are scared to play in Atlanta.”
Beverley also questioned Young’s leadership and work ethic, claiming he rarely observes Young practicing at the Hawks’ facility, contrasting this with his experiences with other star teammates like James Harden. “If I’m working out in Houston, James Harden is in Houston working out,” Beverley stated. “Every time we see you, you’re working out at another place. We never see you in the Hawks arena working out.”
Despite the harsh criticism, Beverley expressed hope that the exchange would be motivating for Young. ”Nonetheless how it goes, it’s going to be good that comes out of this,” he said. “I hope this is motivating. I hope that you get to the end of the year and you fighting for a motherf—ing playoff. I hope, I hope that this is so f—ing motivating that this take you to the Eastern Conference [finals].”
Historically, Beverley holds a 4-3 record in seven regular-season matchups against Young. Young has averaged 25.3 points, 9.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1 steal in those games, while Beverley has averaged 8.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals.
