Riding a three-game winning streak and witnessing the return of LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers were in prime position to keep the momentum going against the Chicago Bulls this past Sunday. However, they endured a disappointing loss to end their homestand and fell back down to No. 9 in what is a nail-biting race for the Play-In Tournament.
It was a frustrating game to watch as the Lakers beat themselves, committing 18 turnovers that resulted in 34 points for the Bulls. By comparison, Chicago only turned the ball over nine times.
Aside from the mistakes, Los Angeles also gave up too many clean looks from distance while struggling to make their own attempts. The Lakers shot 13-of-36 from beyond the arc, a decent percentage but one that should’ve been higher given the quality of looks they got.
Malik Beasley’s shooting performance looks fine in the box score, but the truth of the matter is he missed several wide-open attempts that would’ve swung the momentum in favor of Los Angeles. While it’s hard to pin blame on Beasley, he unfortunately drew the ire of Lakers fans and had to pin a comment on his Instagram promising to be better, but also asking for the hate to stop on a post celebrating his son’s birthday:
Malik Beasley's pinned comment on his son's birthday post (IG) pic.twitter.com/lBqoprVnsu
— ????? ⁶? (@OVOLakeShow) March 27, 2023
Fan behavior has seemingly gotten worse as athletes become more accessible via social media, and this is just another terrible example of things getting too personal with a player. While Beasley didn’t have his best game against the Bulls, it never calls for overly critical and hateful comments.
The positive takeaway is that Beasley didn’t escalate the issue and instead shifted the focus on his individual play going forward. By all accounts, the sharpshooter is a great teammate and has already drawn praise from Darvin Ham and D’Angelo Russell for his professionalism after being moved to the bench. Los Angeles can always use more high-character guys on the roster, so these final seven games may go a long way in determining Beasley’s future in the organization.
Malik Beasley’s team option for 2023-24 season expected to be picked up
Beasley has shown he can be a streaky shooter, but even on his off night’s defenses have to account for where he is on the floor at all times. His ability to space the floor and provide some gravity makes it more likely that the Lakers pick up his team option for the 2023-24 season.
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