Malik Beasley continued his red-hot shooting last night, scoring 24 points in just 16 minutes against the Bulls while knocking down 7-of-10 from long range.
Beasley is now shooting over 41 percent from 3-point range on the season, but has been on fire of late, averaging 18.2 points on 48.1 percent shooting from long range over his last 10 games while taking over 10 attempts per game.
No matter how you measure it, Beasley has been the unquestioned steal of the offseason, as he is playing for just $6 million this season and should be one of the frontrunners for 6th Man of the Year.
He’s a big reason why the Pistons are sitting in the 6th seed right now with a real chance to make the playoffs for the first time since Blake Griffin was limping around the Motor City.
The best part is that he loves being in Detroit, explicitly asked Trajan Langdon not to trade him at the deadline (don’t think that was ever an option) and has expressed interest in staying with the Pistons for the long term.
Beasley just passed Saddiq Bey for the Pistons record for most 3-pointers a season, and by the end of the year, he'll will own that record by a mile.
He’s also doing something I never would have expected, which is outshooting the best shooter of all time.
Malik Beasley vs. Stephen Curry
Curry is arguably the greatest shooter who has ever played in the NBA. He is so good that he changed the league and the way the game is played, as other teams had to start launching more 3’s to keep up.
Curry is at it again this season, hitting just under 40 percent of his 11 attempts per game from long range, with his team is clinging to the 10th spot in the Western Conference.
Currently, Malik Beasley has made 20 more 3-pointers on the season than Curry even though Curry plays five minutes more per game and takes more shots as the focal point of the Warriors’ offense.
Malik Beasley is second in the NBA in 3-pointers made and he comes off the bench. He’s only eight 3’s behind Anthony Edwards for 1st in the league, which would be an unreal accomplishment for a bench player.
To be fair, Beasley has played 10 more games than Curry this season and two more than Edwards, but those two guys are the hubs of their team’s respective offenses and get 5-7 more shots per game than Malik.
You really can’t say enough about what Beasley has meant to this team as a shooter, leader and example for his young teammates, and bringing him back should be an offseason priority for Detroit.