One of the top prospects of 2008, Michael Beasley is now out of the NBA for almost three years. Former Knick wants to play in the league again.
Advertisement
Michael Beasley has one of the saddest stories in the NBA when it comes to career graphs. The Big-12 player of the year in 2008 was picked overall second by the Miami Heat the same year. But has not seen better days since.
Beasley, who grew up playing with Kevin Durant, believed he was as good as KD and LeBron James. And the Slim Reaper obliged, not just because he was friends with the guy, but because the 6’9″ left-handed forward could score whenever he wanted to and from anywhere on the court.
His scoring prowess dated back to even before his high school and college days – AAU times. He was also great at getting the boards and was always a double-double threat. In his only season at Kansas State, he averaged 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds and was named a consensus first-team All American.
It all went wrong for him since he got drafted in the NBA. Being drafted in a Miami team that had won a championship just two seasons back and had the league’s top-3 talent in Dwyane Wade meant Beasley was far from the primary option.
He was still Heat’s second-best scorer (14.5 points) in just 27 minutes he got to play over two seasons in the South Beach.
Even after his trade from the Heat he never saw playing time of more than 25 minutes barring his first season away from Miami. Beasley averaged over 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists that season with Minnesota Timberwolves.
Michael Beasley just wants to play Basketball
It’s been almost 3 years since the second pick of the 2008 Draft played his last game in the NBA. Beasley once rejected a $12 million contract to play in China and rather chose a $2 Million contract to play with the Knicks. But after that last year with the Knicks, he had to play in China and Puerto Rico.
The poor guy recently updated his Twitter feed saying he just wants to play.
There are some of his infamous off-the-court incidents and his “inconsistency issues” which led to his downfall. At least that’s what they say when you hear from the league and Front Offices. But that is all very vague. His real trouble and controversies came up after getting the wrong treatment by his teams for no particular reason. He never got the respect and treatment a top pick gets even if they do not perform well. But he never complained.
Beasley didn’t perform that bad in the playing time he got. But he was overlooked all the time. Since his 2-year stint with the Wolves, he’s been wandering around teams. He played for 6 different teams in 8 years. He averaged 13.2 points and 5.6 rebounds on 50.7% shooting and 39.5% from three in his last full season with the Knicks during the 2017-18 season. Which by no means was a bad season.
After that, he has just played in the Summer Leagues. He’s been a constant presence there which even led to him earning a short stint with the Lakers in 2019.
Also read: Spurs fans appreciate the Point Guard after his double-double streak nears their GOAT’s record
Beasley averaged 9 ppg in the Summer League this year with the Portland Trail Blazers but is still looking for a chance. With many teams still struggling to have solid scoring off the bench, the 32-year old could be a good option.
