Michael Beasley: the magic talent the NBA failed, May 16th!

You look at Michael Beasley’s stats, and you see an unspectacular role player. With his career average of 12.5 points and 0 all-star games or anything outside of an all-rookie team. That doesn’t explain why Josh Hart said he’d take him 1 on 1 over KD or why 3x 6th man of the year Lou Williams agreed.

So who is he, and how did the NBA fail him? That’s what I found out.

In the beginning there was Michael Beasley and KD growing up together in Maryland. Both at a very young age had already become local legends for their basketball ability before college was a twinkle in either of their eyes. Not for no reason either; they were both top prospects coming out of high school. Even though both went to Big 12 schools (KD to Texas and Beasley to K-State), both even won Big 12 POTY and were 2nd overall picks.

While Durant became 1 of the best players of his generation, Beasley became a bust.

And it began with the team that drafted Beasley. KD was drafted by the Supersonics, which was his own show before getting sidekicks in Westbrook and Harden, but Beasley was expected to be the sidekick. Drafted by the Heat 2 years after they won a ring with DWade and Shaq. So he was drafted to Wade’s team, not his own. Many might think being drafted to a contender would be nothing but a good thing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth; look at Darko Miličić.

Darko was drafted by the 2004 Pistons and won a title, but they were the reason he was a bust.

When the Yugoslavian prodigy was drafted before the likes of Wade or Melo and after LeBron, it looks like he was in the best situation out of all of them, going on a playoff team that went on to win the finals. However, because of that, he wasn’t given the plethora of playing time; they were instead battling for minutes with All-Star-level vets and were expected to fit into a limited role. That all hindered his development and got him to lose confidence, ruining his career. It wasn’t the exact same in the case of Beasley, but a lot of the same problems came up.

Beasley started his career in the massive shadow of Dywane Wade.

He says he’d come full of energy, ready to play, and showed people who he wanted to be. Not being able to turned into depression for him not getting the minutes and role he was used to. He only started 19 of 81 games his rookie season compared to 33 of 33 the previous year in college. With the organization that drafted him not showing the same level of confidence Beasley himself had in himself. Left yearning for more responsibility, all he was able to do was go around Miami young with all the money in the world looking for fun.

Chicago was always going to go with the hometown hero 1st overall.

But who knows the legacy Beasley would have if he went 1st? Heading into draft night, he thought he was going 1st overall after a 2-day visit to Chi-town. The K-State man was even noticeably stunned when Rose’s name was called instead of his. The Bulls at the time were a team with no direction and no hope, which made it the perfect place to build around and bring the best out of Derrick Rose, and they could’ve done the exact same for Beasley.

This is where his personal troubles began.

Unable to vibe with the strict Pat Riley, he wasn’t able to find that father figure he wanted in Miami. This only made him self-doubt more, in turn making him less likely to speak when he felt uncomfortable. Beating himself up and being angry at others for why he felt this way. Only making him more likely to turn to things like weed to cope. As he said, his time in Miami was spent trying to stop a vision, only for it to happen anyway.

In August 2009, Beasley checked himself into rehab in Houston.

That came a year after Beasley, along with Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur, all got the cops called on them at the NBA’s Rookie Transition Program for the strong smell of weed. Beasley’s stint wouldn’t be without incident either. He, on August 24, 2009, was shifted from outpatient to inpatient, indicating he’d broken one of the program’s rules, and it wouldn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out how. He’d had put his heart on his shoulder for social media and in the worst way possible.

It was a meltdown that saw many worry about his mental health.

Beasley tweeted, “Why do I feel like the whole world is against me!!!!!!” Back on my FTW!!!!! I can’t win for losing!!!!!!!!! Feeling like it’s not worth living!!!!!!! I’m done not feeling this at all!!!!!” He then posted both an unrelated photo from Beasley that featured a baggie of what looked an awful lot like marijuana in the background and an image of him passed out on a boat surrounded by empty bottles. Though it’s possible he was worn out after a tough game. I mean, he’s always talking about how much he plays, and he does appear to have his game shorts on.

Only 1 year in the NBA and he had a nasty rep.

This followed him around the rest of his career, and it stopped teams from giving him the chance he deserved. He did almost score 20 a night for the Timberwolves his 3rd year playing sidekick to Kevin Love; it would be the peak of his career. It would be the last time he’d start every game in an NBA season and would go from team to team, like to Phoenix, a return to Miami, then to Houston. Milwaukee became a brief cult hero in New York, then ending his career in those bright Lakers lights. With stints as a superstar in China and Puerto Rico before calling it quits for good.

He made mistakes, but they were far from unfixable.

He certainly lacked maturity when he was 19 but had the talent, the work ethic, and ambition. If someone older showed belief he could be a superstar like he believed he could be and showed him how to focus and use that fire in him was all he needed to live up to his potential, and he wouldn’t have the numerous run-ins with the law like he has.

Instead, his limited role in Miami set off a domino leading to a mental meltdown, which led to no NBA team putting too much faith in him again, let alone to be a superstar. Despite having the talent and work ethic to do so, like others have in the past and even now,.

Thanks a bunch for reading!