The NBA tea is sizzling hot.
Philadelphia 76ers guard Patrick Beverley is being accused of planting a reporter in a press conference for a staged question, which he later posted to his podcast, after a 124-109 win against the Magic on Jan. 19.
It all started when Beverley took to his X account after the game and posted, “Belt 2 A$$ Tour. Thanks Orlando way to show up.”
During the post-game press conference, a reporter told Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. about Beverley’s post, and asked if it’s “something that pisses you guys off.”
Carter explained it was quite the opposite.
“I mean to be quite honest with you, no one’s really worried about Patrick Beverley,” he said.
Beverley posted the exchange to his podcast’s X account and said Carter has a “loser mentality.”
On Thursday, Magic radio host Brandon Kravitz reposted the video and accused Beverley of planting the reporter in the press conference.
“I recognize every voice that asks questions in Magic post game pressers,” Kravitz wrote. “I strongly believe this was a Pat Bev plant.”
Dilan Bosch, an Orlando-based Sports Reporter, also accused Beverley of orchestrating the situation in a reply post to Kravitz.
“Hey. It was a plant for sure,” Bosch wrote. “I was in the press conference room when that happened and after the press conference I went in front of the Sixers locker room to see the players walk out.
“As I’m waiting I see pat Bev and the ‘reporter’ who asked that question greet each other.”
Bosch claimed in a followup post that he saw Beverley talking with the reporter outside the locker room after the game.
“Then Pat Bev walks out the locker room,” Bosch wrote. “He was wearing black boots, orange and black jeans. He walks up to the ‘reporter’ guy who was with two girls and tells him ‘you got it?’
“The ‘reporter’ says ‘yeah,’ then signals him to follow him to the team bus and they leave.”
Bosch also posted a video from inside the press conference as “the proof that I was there.”
In a separate post, Bosch replied to the video posted on the “The Pat Bev Pod” X account, and wrote: “Pat let’s talk about how you sent a fake reporter to the press conference as a plant and had him ask that question. This whole thing was set up, you just trying to create content bro.”
In his postgame press conference, Carter said Beverley was talking to fuel his own “online antics,” and explained why he believed the veteran guard didn’t impact the game for his team.
“A five-point game? What did you do?” Carter asked. “I don’t understand how you’re affecting the game.
“But that’s what he does. He’s trying to get us to buy into his online antics. He’s just doing a lot right now.
“I guess that’s the angle he’s trying to take now that he’s towards the end of his career. Kudos to him, I guess he did a good job.”
Beverley finished with five points, six rebounds, and four assists across 28 minutes in the win against the Magic.
“It’s not all about the points, Mr. Wendell Carter,” he wrote on X.
Beverley has yet to address the allegations that he planted the reporter in the press conference.
The Sixers play the Nuggets in Denver on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
