Malik Beasley is officially out of legal trouble, making him a top free agent. The sharpshooter will be someone that all contenders would love to have, and should be the top priority for the reigning champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Here’s why a Beasley addition would make OKC heavy favorites to go back-to-back:
Provides Much-Needed Three-Point Shooting
OKC was top 10 in most three-point stats in the regular season, but come playoff time, everything plummeted. In the playoffs, they were 13th in three-point percentage (33.8%), 11th in three-point makes per game (11.8), and eighth in attempts (35.0).
Following the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets’ offseason acquisitions, this poor shooting will likely prevent them from making another finals appearance.
In Beasley’s playoff career, he has a 39.7% three-point shooting percentage. In last season’s playoffs, he attempted 9.8 three-pointers a game and shot 34%.
Although this is underperforming to his standards, it was a six-game sample size compared to OKC’s 23. This shooting addition would be invaluable to OKC.
Gives OKC More Versatile Lineups
OKC’s top three-point shooter, Isaiah Joe, couldn’t play in many scenarios in the playoffs because of his lackluster defense. Although Beasley is not a great defender, he is far closer to average than Joe. With him being able to be on the court in the playoffs, this allows OKC to run a different array of lineups compared to last season.
With OKC now able to have multiple great shooters on the court at once, whether it is Beasley with Dort or Caruso, they can have this option without sacrificing defensive dominance.
Keeping Up With Other Aggressive Western Conference Teams
The Western Conference is as competitive as it has ever been. To reinterate, the Rockets and Nuggets have been busy this offseason, with Houston adding Kevin Durant and Dorian Finney-Smith and Denver adding Cam Johnson. These moves make them some of the most dangerous teams in the league and a serious threat to OKC.
Other West teams, such as the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks, also made significant upgrades, but rather than through free agency, it was through the draft.
A player like Beasley gives OKC a considerable upgrade and will keep them at the top of the league.
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