No. 5: Re-signing Malik Beasley
Malik Beasley came to Minnesota from the Denver Nuggets last season as part of a massive four-team, 12-player trade that happened mere hours before the deadline. While originally the hope was that Beasley would shape up to be a nice role player to come off the bench, he quickly blossomed into something more.
Last season, Beasley went from averaging 7.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game on the Nuggets, to recording 20.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 0.6 steals per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the floor and 42.6 percent from 3-point range. Towards the end of the season, Beasley was making himself a prime candidate for an extension and had last season played out normally, he probably would’ve gotten one at the beginning of the offseason.
However, the season didn’t go as planned, and Beasley had to wait a long time for that new contract.
That contract came recently in the form of a 4-year, $60 million renewal that earned Beasley more money than he’d ever made. In fact, Beasley is set to make around twice as much per year as he has over his entire career thus far.
Unfortunately, this kind of money will always raise some issues. The most pressing of which is Beasley’s legal issues.
In September, Beasley was charged with drug possession and threats of violence after he pointed an assault rifle at a family in an SUV while they were sitting outside his Minneapolis home. After a search of the home, police found 1.75 pounds of marijuana and two more guns. An investigation later showed that police found what appeared to be a video of Beasley making light of the event both before and after pointing the gun at the family.
On a bit of a lighter note, there’s also a question of fit when it comes to rotation. The Timberwolves traded for Ricky Rubio on draft night. This means that now Minnesota has a four-guard rotation of Rubio, D’Angelo Russell, Jarrett Culver, and Beasley. While placing Beasley on the bench, assuming Rubio and Russell lock in the starting spot, wouldn’t be too poor of a decision with that talent, paying a bench player around $15 million a year is a questionable decision from a Minnesota team that really should try to not go too far above the cap if they won’t be winning.