Michael Beasley seems to be out of the NBA yet again after his last ballclub, the Miami Heat, declined to pick up the $1.3 million option for next season.
With training camp already underway, it seems that no other team has shown interest in the 26-year-old forward most likely a prime reason why he has opted to take his basketball talent overseas.
According to Sportando, Beasley has signed with the Shandong Golden Stars of the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association). This will be his second stint in the CBA, having played for the Shanghai Sharks back in 2014-15.
Based on his last performance with the Sharks, it seems that Beasley has been fitting more playing overseas than in the competitive NBA.
Beasley did put up impressive numbers at that time, averaging 28.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.9 steals in 37 games. However, his efforts seemed to be not enough seeing that the Sharks could only manage a 12th place finish with a 17-21 record.
It seems that those numbers were what enticed the Miami Heat to recall Beasley in 2015. Especially with most of the stars in sick bay, it served as a great opportunity for Beasley to finally show what he is capable off in the NBA scene.
Sadly, it never happened and now he finds himself headed back to the China where he will most likely put up good numbers which will hopefully translate into a better showing as far as Shandong is concerned.
Beasley has somehow failed to live up to the fact of why he was the second overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft. Aside from the Heat, Beasley found himself playing for other teams as well.
The list includes the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns. Beasley was given multiple opportunities to prove he was worth keeping but apparently his score-first attitude was something that has contributed to his failure to succeed with the Heat and technically with the NBA.
Always rooted for Michael Beasley to figure it out. But he's not a core piece on a contender. He's a maybe-we-get-lucky-for-a-few-games guy.
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) June 28, 2015
Aside from that, he finds himself competing with players who have honed other facets of their game. With Chris Bosh back plus a bunch of other forwards who do more than just score, the decision of the Heat not to pick up Beasley for the coming season does in a way make sense.
Not to belittle the CBA, the thing is that Beasley can indeed stand up above the rest seeing that leagues would require players to score in bulk. But then again if such a performance fails to put up W’s then there is something considerably lacking.
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