Patrick Beverley: I might ‘pop up early’

Two weeks ago, it was announced that Patrick Beverly would miss the remainder of the season after a knee surgery. Yesterday, it was reported that the Clippers would receive $2.75M in a “disabled player exception.

Well, today, Patrick Beverly gave us a more intimate look into his situation:

This tweet stood out to me for both an obvious reason and a more “macro” reason.

Firstly, it makes the fan in me excited — perhaps he will be back towards the end of the year? Or at least be ready to go for training camp next fall? And, of course, it is nice to see that an injured player is working his way back to health regardless of when he will be able to play basketball.

The second thing — in a more reflective moment — that came to mind was how striking it is to see Beverley’s tweet lined up against the first two reports that are linked above. The tweet shows Beverley as an actual person, while the reports that fill the blogs and newspapers treat Beverley as an asset in a business’ operation.

This is not a revolutionary thought; just a reminder that social media can be a great bridge between professional athletes and fans, and can cut through the transactional nature of sports.