The Milwaukee Bucks won’t have one of their best perimeter defenders on the court next season. Patrick Beverley’s days in the NBA are over, at least for now. The troublemaking guard is taking his talents overseas to play for Hapoel Tel Aviv.
According to a report by international basketball insider Christos Tsaltas, Beverley turned down offers from the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets to join Hapoel Tel Aviv (via NBA Central). Apparently, he only got offers to play for the veteran minimum in the U.S., and the foreign team made him a very lucrative offer.
Beverley had developed a reputation for being a troublemaker, but he’s also one of the peskiest defenders in the league, and the kind of player who will leave it all on the court on every single possession, for better or worse.
The Bucks will have to find that kind of defensive commitment somewhere else, and they suffered mightily in that regard once Jrue Holiday left. Doc Rivers failed to turn the team around in half a season in charge of them, but he’ll now have a full offseason and training camp to try and make a difference there
As for Beverley, he might now get to post the offensive numbers he could never get in the NBA.