"I Was Never Scared Of You. I Was Never Scared Of Patty Bev" - Trae Young Hopped On His Own Podcast To Take Some Shots At Pat Bev And We Officially Have A New NBA Beef On Our Hands

Tim Nwachukwu. Getty Images.

There are a lot of things to love about NBA basketball. You're watching the best players on the planet compete for 48 minutes in the greatest basketball league in existence. Every night you can tune in and see some shit you've never seen before. Don't listen to the sheep that all sing the same incorrect song about the league being "boring" because of "3pt shooting" or whatever the hell the hot talking points are despite none of it being the case if you actually sat down and watched.

Sorry, I just realized I triggered myself and went on a bit of a tangent there. Allow me to get back on track.

In addition to all the fun stuff we see on the court, let's not try and pretend like the NBA isn't extremely dramatic. That's half the fun! Everyone is petty as hell, and as fans, we get blessed with some of the most random player beefs imaginable. 

Take our latest random ass beef between Pat Bev vs Trae Young. You'll never believe this, but it's a beef that started over Twitter. I understand that there are some of you who may live actual lives and might not be in the trenches of September NBA drama, so we can take it from the top. Things began with this segment from the Pat Bev Pod

As you can imagine, there was a section of the internet that clowned Pat Bev for this message, but in my opinion, they missed his point entirely. It's not as if anything Pat Bev said in that clip is wrong. There have absolutely been questions around Trae and his role as the leader of the Hawks. His own team is reluctant to give him a max extension right now! Since their ECF run in 2020-21, they've either lost in the 1st Round (twice) or missed the playoffs entirely (twice). As a team, the Hawks haven't won more than 41 games since 2015-16. That's 10 years ago. For a player of Trae's talent level, a guy who is the franchise player and leader of the team, you have to wear that responsibility, and until you and your team produce wins, there will be questions. That's how life works in the NBA for "star" players. 

And while it's true Pat Bev wasn't "the guy" on those teams that made the playoffs all those years, he was still an important role player. That doesn't make what he said not true. There's obviously a very big difference in life as an NBA player if you're the star or if you're a role player, but that's a separate discussion. Navigating games as the entire focus of a defense is much harder than navigating those same games as a role player, which is what makes Trae's production so impressive. But for "star" players, it's also about winning. That shit matters. To me, that was Pat Bev's main point.

Of course, because this is 2025 and this is what we do now, it was only a matter of time before Trae Young hopped on his own podcast and responded

Let us take a moment and acknowledge how embarrassing it is that this is what NBA beefs have come to. Twitter fights leading to podcast wars. Let's just say it's not exactly how I imagine Dr. J and Larry Bird would have chosen to handle their issues

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So as a collective, let's just accept where we are as a society and dive in.

In terms of Trae's response, it was also mostly whatever. Not exactly some sort of fatality or anything, in fact, there were a few things that didn't really make sense to me.

1. How is it an insult to say that Pat Bev played with elite talent? No shit. He knows that, we know that, everyone knows that?

2. His big flex being winning Play In games on the road was pretty funny

3. I have to push back on the attempt to clown Pat Bev for this reaction

If you win a close Play in Game to get back into the playoffs after a 3 year gap and for only the second time since 2003-04 I think you can celebrate however the fuck you want. That was a huge moment for that team, that city, and that fanbase. Wolves fans have endured a lifetime of pain, it's kind of weak to clown someone for celebrating that moment.

4. Trae kind of lost me when he tried to clown Pat Bev for only having 1 Conference Finals appearance……when he himself only has 1 Conference Finals appearance. I'm not sure that was the dig he may have thought. The dig by saying you don't really play until June, well….neither does Trae Young. So that was a little confusing.

Now to be fair, as you'll see in any classic online Twitter/podcasting NBA player beef, there were some clean shots by Trae as well. The same way Pat Bev had some clean shots in his rant, so did Trae. The line he dropped about never fearing Pat Bev when he was on the court with him? That's tough. I'm not really sure how you respond to that one. I was curious if there was a way I could see how these two did while facing each other, and this was the best that I could do

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See what I mean? Clean shot.

I also think there's something to be said for his point about letting the current All Stars be the ones who explain what their mentality and mindset are for the All Star Game. Not that non-All Stars can't give their opinion on that event and game, but I do think the stance from the actual All Stars is important. We all have eyes, we see the product. Trae Young can say he gives a shit about the game and that's fine, but something's going on. The tape doesn't lie. This is something where I think both Pat Bev and Trae Young are right in their individual stances. 

And do you know what the best part about ALL of this is? We're about to see if Trae Young can back up his shit talking. The Atlanta Hawks had an incredible offseason. They added elite talent all over their roster. Their good young players are back from injury, and many, many people have them billed as a surprise team in the East this season. There is no excuse for Trae Young to not just make the playoffs, but be a high seed and make a deep run for the first time in 5 years. He has the opportunity to prove all the shit Pat Bev said about being a leader and winning is wrong. If it's another underachieving season and the Hawks are once again in the Play In despite how injured the East is this year? Well then I guess we'll have our answer.

Now, is this a beef that I or literally anyone on Earth asked for? For sure not. Is it a fun way to kill the last few weeks of the offseason until training camp opens? You betcha.

Given how these things work, I'd subscribe to the Pat Bev Pod feed so you can be first in line for the response.