Malik Beasley was one of the Los Angeles Lakers’ trade deadline acquisitions that was meant to vault them into championship contention. He was acquired as part of the three-team Russell Westbrook trade that also brought Jarred Vanderbilt and D’Angelo Russell to the purple and gold.
And while Beasley was viewed as the least essential of the three new faces, he brought an invaluable skillset: shooting.
Beasley had shot at least 37.7% from 3-point range in his previous four NBA seasons. And while he wasn’t elite in other facets of the game, the Lakers were in desperate need of shooting and saw him as an immediate impact piece. In 26 regular season games, however, Beasley only hit 35.3% of his deep-range shots. And in 11 postseason games, he faltered even more, shooting 26.9%.
He found himself signing with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2023 offseason after he was told he would have a regular place in a starting lineup alongside Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton. But as he looks back at his Lakers tenure, he places the blame nowhere but himself for the way he struggled, via Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report:
“The challenges that I faced was off-court stuff, it wasn’t more like getting in trouble. It was more of the past things that have happened in my life that caused me to not play at my best. Also, L.A. is like home for me. I’m from Atlanta but my wife is from L.A. so there was a lot going on. I wasn’t the player I wanted to be, and I hold myself accountable. I wasn’t putting in the extra work as I am now and it showed. It had nothing to do with the system or anything, I feel like obviously if I could’ve been put in a better position then maybe I could’ve done better, but it’s not about that. I hold myself accountable for the year I had last year, getting myself out of the rotation and not to mention those guys playing better than me. Straight up. So I took that accountability and worked my ass off, worked hard this summer, and it’s paying off.”
Even amid his struggles, Beasley was a seasoned professional during his time in L.A. He has never been viewed as the type of player to cause problems or be a distraction. And for him to take full responsibility for his lack of production in L.A. speaks to the kind of person and player he is.
Beasley is now thriving in the Bucks’ system, shooting 47.1% from beyond the arc on 6.1 attempts per game. He is a huge part of what the Bucks do offensively and has helped maintain the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Malik Beasley turned down more money from Lakers
Beasley revealed that he had an offer on the table from the Lakers worth about $6 million in the offseason, but chose to sign a veteran minimum contract with the Bucks. His reasoning for not re-signing with L.A. for more money was because of the guard depth and uncertainty as to what his role would be.
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