Report: Patrick Beverley Taunted LeBron James When Clippers Beat Lakers to Kawhi

When the Los Angeles Clippers pulled off their mega-coup of landing both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George this summer, Clippers guard Patrick Beverley reportedly wasted very little time in letting one of his Staples Center rivals know about it.

On a recent episode of "The Woj Podcast," ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported Beverley was at the same restaurant as Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James when the Leonard-George news broke. And per Windhorst (h/t Dane Delgado of NBC Sports), Beverley felt the need to let James know about the news firsthand:

"And so the deal actually gets done. [Adrian Wojnarowski reports] that Kawhi has not only agreed to sign with the Clippers, but the Clippers are trading half their future for Paul George, it's a stunning development. And it all goes down while those players are at the same restaurant in various private rooms.

"The story that I heard was that Patrick was making a beeline down the hallway of private rooms—sticking his head into all the rooms gloating about the Clippers' giant haul—including into LeBron's room."

Earlier this month, Clippers coach Doc Rivers went on The Rich Eisen Show and shared the details of how the deals went down (starting at the 13:00 mark):

If Windhorst's report is true it should not come as a huge surprise, given Beverley made sure to celebrate the news on social media:

Don't forget—this is the same person who proclaimed to TMZ Sports last year that the Clippers were better than the Lakers after the latter signed James:

To the surprise of many, that declaration proved true. While the Lakers (37-45) extended their franchise-record playoff drought to six years, the Clippers (48-34) made the playoffs and pushed the Golden State Warriors to six games in the first round.

Both teams have spent the offseason reshaping their respective rosters. The Clippers' offseason was highlighted by the Leonard and George deals, and the Lakers added Anthony Davis, Danny Green, Dwight Howard, Quinn Cook, Jared Dudley and Avery Bradley.

Interestingly enough, the Lakers reportedly had interest in Beverley this summer. However, the veteran re-signed to a reported three-year, $40 million deal. 

It won't be long before Beverley, Leonard, George and Co. get to go head-to-head against James and the new-look Lakers. The first edition of the Battle of L.A. in 2019-20 will come on opening night, Oct. 22.