Patrick Beverley’s controversial list has quickly come under fire.
The polarizing Bucks guard revealed his top-five “whitest black guys” in the NBA in the latest episode of his “Pat Bev Podcast” with co-host Adam Ferrone, and it has since drawn backlash.
In order, Beverley listed Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, Pacers center Myles Turner, 76ers center Mo Bamba, Hornets forward Grant Williams and Pelicans guard CJ McCollum.
Bamba certainly didn’t take kindly to being included in the list.
“Alright, I got time today @patbevpod,” Bamba posted on X. “I’m a top 5 black-white guy because I can properly articulate how I feel & how I see things? You a smart man, do your research. I’m not a gangsta to any capacity but I’m born & raised from Harlem. I made it off the block & out the trenches [sic].”
And Bamba wasn’t done.
“Secondly, sitting there with your legs crossed like that & asking your white co host to publicly question my blackness is one of the reasons why it’s hard to move the culture forward,” Bamba wrote in a subsequent post accompanied by a laughing emoji.
Beverly said that he included Bamba because of his preference to shoot 3-pointers rather than play inside and for his “finesse game.”
Bamba wasn’t the only one who took exception.
“Ask [Damian Lillard] about me before you speak on my name,” McCollum wrote in an Instagram comment on a video of Beverly’s comments.
Lillard is notably teammates with Beverly on the Bucks.
Beverly explained his reasoning to revealing his list.
“Let’s get right to it, people want to see,” Beverly said. “We did the blackest whitest guys. I’m reading the comments, and I like to read comments. You guys should do a whitest blackest five.”
He later explained that his list doesn’t “have anything to do with their basketball game,” but rather their “swag,” or lack thereof.
