The Los Angeles Lakers addressed many of their holes with their multiple trades prior to the trade deadline, or so it appeared.
The big trade was the one that sent out Russell Westbrook, little-used Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones plus draft capital for D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley. It was projected that both Russell and Beasley would greatly help with the Lakers’ major 3-point shooting woes.
It seemed like a reasonable expectation to many people, given the fact Beasley is a high-volume 3-point shooter who had made at least 37.7% of his attempts from downtown over the previous four seasons.
However, Beasley failed to measure up.
Beasley's regular-season stats in 26 games with the Lakers
11.1 points
3.3 rebounds
1.2 assists
39.2 percent field-goal shooting
35.3 percent 3-point shooting
61.9 percent free-throw shooting
Takeaways
A deeper look into Beasley’s stats prior to joining to Lakers shows that they weren’t exactly getting the sniper many thought they were.
As a member of the Utah Jazz earlier this season, he made an outstanding 42.5% of his 3-point attempts in the first 20 games of this season. But between his 21st game and his trade to L.A., he was at just 32.5% from downtown.
Beasley was even more inconsistent and unreliable after joining the Purple and Gold. During the regular season, he seldom hit over 40% from beyond the arc, and he had trouble hitting open looks on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, he is a one-dimensional player. Sometimes he would look to attack the basket off the dribble when the outside shot wasn’t available, but he isn’t much more than an average threat in that department. Even worse, he isn’t a good passer, nor does he look to pass the ball often, and he is a weak defender.
By the time the playoffs started, Beasley was on his way out of the Lakers’ rotation. A lot of his playing time during the postseason came during garbage time, which showed how little head coach Darvin Ham trusted him.
The guard has a team option for next season, and at this point, it’s hard to imagine him sticking on the Lakers past next season’s trade deadline, at best.
Final grade: D
