This Former Number Two Overall Pick Who Played For The Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, And Minnesota Timberwolves Is On The Portland Trail Blazers Summer League Team
The Indiana Pacers will face the Portland Trail Blazers in NBA Summer League play on Thursday at 6 P.M. Eastern Time on NBA TV.
The Trail Blazers have a very familiar face to NBA fans on the roster.
32 year old, former number two overall pick who has played for the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks.
Michael Beasley.
Many times a number two overall pick does not even play in NBA Summer league after his first or second season in the NBA, but for Beasley he is playing in Summer League with 11-years of NBA experience.
The last season he played was the 2018-19 season with the Lakers, and he played in 26 games averaging 7.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per game on 49% shooting from the field.
He did not play last season or the season before, but he was added to the 2020 Brooklyn Nets team in the Orlando bubble. However, he left the bubble after testing positive for COVID-19 (see Tweet below from ESPN's Tim Bontemps on July 14, 2020.) The article from him and Malika Andrews can be read here.
Beasley has career earnings of over $40 million (via Basketball Reference), and has not played in two years. Yet, he is clearly swallowing his pride and playing in Summer League competition against players a lot less accomplished than he is.
While it remains to be seen if an NBA team will sign the former Kansas State star, what he is doing is at the very least commendable.
Beasley had nine points, three rebounds, three steals and two blocks in the first game, and nine points, five rebounds and one block in the second game.
