Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley believes an NBA team would have a difficult time playing in an Olympic stadium in Greece because of the massive capacity that would add to the pressure.
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“The Panathinaikos game in Greece,” Beverley began. “First Olympic stadium — 40,000 people, almost 50,000 people at a hoop game outside. Nah, they snapped. It wasn’t even the other team’s fans, it was just them. They — all their fans. It’d be tough for an NBA team to win there. It’d be tough. Not saying it wouldn’t happen — it’d be tough. It’d be tough. It’d be tough. That’s all.”
Interestingly, Beverley played professional basketball in Greece before he started his NBA career. He played for Olympiacos — a EuroLeague team — during the 2009-10 season, and his rookie season in the NBA came during the 2012-13 campaign with the Houston Rockets.
Beverley has played 12 seasons in the NBA since his stint with Olympiacos came to an end, and he made a name for himself thanks to his effort and impact on the defensive end of the floor. He earned three All-Defensive selections in the league and even finished in the top 10 in the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year voting on multiple occasions.
The 36-year-old was consistently one of the top perimeter defenders in the NBA during his time in the league, but despite that, he bounced around from team to team for much of his tenure. Beverley played for seven NBA teams, and he appeared in under 60 regular-season games with five of those squads.
The defensive ace spent more time with the Rockets organization than any other NBA team. Beverley spent five seasons and a grand total of 291 regular-season games (240 starts) playing on the same team as a gifted offensive player in James Harden.
His most recent season spent in the NBA was the 2023-24 season, and he played for both the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks. When the 2024 NBA Playoffs rolled around, Beverley was a member of the Bucks, but the team lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round.
After spending over a decade in the NBA, Beverley enjoyed a full circle moment when he decided to sign a two-year deal with the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv and play professional basketball overseas once again.
While NBA fans should be confident that any of the 30 teams in the league would be able to beat Panathinaikos in Greece, such a matchup would make for an entertaining atmosphere if nothing else.
