He was a relative unknown prior to the first round of this year's NBA Playoffs.
But now Patrick Beverley is in the news for all the wrong reasons, at least if you ask Oklahoma City Thunder fans.
The Houston Rockets guard snuck in to try and steal the ball from Russell Westbrook in Game 2 of his team's series late last week... only to end up causing a season-ending knee injury to the elite point guard.
As a result, Beverley has received at least one major death threat.
Soon after the news of Westbrook's injury broke, Mitchell Brown, a ball boy for the Thunder, Tweeter: “Patrick Beverly (sic), I’m coming to kill you."
Brown later apologized, but a team spokesman said the Thunder does not "condone" such behavior and the matter would be handled internally.
Kevin Durant, meanwhile, does not blame Beverley, telling reporters that Westbrook'e injury was simply an "unfortunate play" and he hopes Beverley is "not hanging his head off of it. It’s just one of those freak accidents.”
Oklahome City coach Scott Brooks was even more emphatic in his defense:
“That was not a dirty play. It’s part of basketball. One of the things the kid does, he plays hard. Now, was it unfortunate and was he trying to get under his skin? Absolutely. But it wasn’t a dirty play. You want to play physical. You want to play hard. That’s what I like. That’s how you have to play.”