Lakers News: Expert Predicts Future Of Malik Beasley In Los Angeles
By Game 5 of your Los Angeles Lakers' first playoff series this year, against the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, sharpshooting reserve swingman Malik Beasley had been demoted out of the club's actual rotation, and was used only on mop-up duty in blowouts through the rest of LA's postseason run.
The 6'4" wing out of Florida State, acquired by Los Angeles as part of a three-team deal to offload Russell Westbrook's onerous expiring contract, started out life with the Lakers as the club's starting shooting guard. The emergence of Austin Reaves eventually compelled head coach Darvin Ham to move Beasley to a bench role near the end of the regular season, where he struggled to establish much of a rhythm. His output was essentially useless in the playoffs, and Lonnie Walker IV eventually replaced him in bench lineups.
The 26-year-old Beasley averaged 11.1 points on .392/.353/.619 shooting splits, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in his 26 contests with LA. He averaged just 3.0 points on a .294/.269/1.000 slash line and 0.7 rebounds across his 11 playoff games.
In a new piece breaking down player and team options for the 2023-24 season, John Hollinger of The Athletic speculates that Los Angeles will decline its $16.7 million option on Beasley and allow him to enter the free agent market. His underwhelming performance as a shooter (and let's not even talk about his inane defense) for Los Angeles when it matters most suggests that he may receive a bit of a pay cut as a free agent.
As Hollinger notes, the Lakers could theoretically work under the cap (depending on how the team handles some of its other free agents, of course) if they let Beasley walk.
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