Malik Beasley was on the wrong end of a highlight during Milwaukee’s tough loss against the Pacers on Thursday.
After his first training camp and preseason with the organization, Beasley was given the fifth spot in the starting lineup for Milwaukee. He has appeared in the first unit in all eight of the games that he has played for the Bucks so far.
He is a valuable floor-spacer who has shot 37.9 percent on 3-pointers during his professional career. Beasley is also shooting well to start this campaign, connecting on 42.5 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.
But he has left plenty of room for improvement with his defensive effort, which was unfortunately on display when Beasley defended Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton during important minutes down the stretch.
You can watch exactly what happened, but the results weren’t pretty. Haliburton created an absurd amount of separation off the dribble against Beasley, who seemingly gave up on the play immediately after.
controller disconnected? pic.twitter.com/t15XGafuPy
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) November 10, 2023
Here is another angle, courtesy of the Pacers:
Tyrese Haliburton left his defender lost on this drive after faking the call for a screen 😳 pic.twitter.com/H2vhPHTIhj
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) November 10, 2023
The biggest question, though, is how he ended up in this situation.
Before the season began, Beasley spoke about a desire to make a leap on the defensive end of the floor (via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):
“I came here to also help my defense,” Beasley said matter-of-factly. “They make an impact on defense. Especially with (assistant) coach (Patrick) Mutombo, that’s his specialty. I heard coach (Adrian) Griffin, that’s what he likes, too. I want this to be a great year not just for me individually, but overall as a team and building my value more than just a three-point shooter.”
Afterward, first-year head coach Adrian Griffin said that Beasley would take on the “toughest assignments” on defense for Milwaukee. This was a very surprising statement considering, per BBall-Index, Beasley had not typically taken on a high degree of matchup difficulty in the NBA.
Yet this season, he has already spent significant time guarding offensive standouts such as Haliburton as well as Trae Young, Tyrese Maxey, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brunson.
For as much value as he brings as a perimeter player on offense, he has never had the same level of impact on the defensive end of the floor.
It’s also emblematic of a bigger issue that has plagued the Bucks since the start of the season. Milwaukee has the NBA’s sixth-worst defensive rating so far in 2023-24.
Since losing defensive juggernaut Jrue Holiday in a trade to land Damian Lillard (who has his own defensive shortcomings) during the offseason, the Bucks have struggled to guard opponents at the point of attack.
Beasley isn’t a bad player but he isn’t the right option as the perimeter stopper for Milwaukee. This clip against Haliburton is reason enough why the Bucks need to do whatever they can to trade for a defensive ace like Alex Caruso or find more minutes for Marjon Beauchamp.
