After a successful year in New York, Michael Beasley is heading to Los Angeles.
Beasley and the Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to a deal, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported Beasley chose Los Angeles over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The 29-year-old averaged 13.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season with the Knicks. It was his highest-scoring season since 2010-11, and Knicks players complimented his role as a locker-room leader.
“He kinda had a little bad rep,” Doug McDermott told Blake Murphy of Uproxx in November. “But honestly, I heard from a lot of people in the league how good of a teammate he was before I even got here. So I knew what to expect: He’s always positive, he comes to work every day, can make anyone laugh at any time. It’s always good to have a guy like that in the locker room. I really like him as a teammate. He’s been really good for us.”
Beasley said he hoped to return in 2018-19.
“Hopefully, [but] it’s not up to me,” Beasley told reporters. “Ultimately it’s not. It’s not up to me. We’ll see what’s going on this summer and go from there. I would love to be back definitely. A lot goes into that. We’ll assess the situation in summertime.”
Beasley’s status with the team changed a bit when they fired Jeff Hornacek and hired David Fizdale as their head coach.
Fizdale had a familiarity with Beasley dating back to their time with the Miami Heat. It’s unclear if that was a factor in the player exiting. Of course, he also spent time with LeBron James in Miami, which may have played a role in this deal.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
